Thursday, April 25, 2024
For decades, many who served in the U.S. military remained silent about their service.
Some found it difficult to share painful memories, or perhaps felt that no one cared. Others felt that, because they weren’t involved in battles of historic significance, their service didn’t matter much.
But Granbury schoolteacher Rhonda Naylor believes that every veteran’s service is worth noting and that every student should recognize the sacrifices made by those who fought.
The STARS Accelerated High School history teacher has managed to meld the two.
By coaxing veterans to speak to her classes and by having students conduct videotaped interviews with them, Naylor has helped to heal the wounds of war, preserve history and instill in young people a respect for those who helped shape their country.
For those reasons, the Hood County News has chosen Naylor as its 2018 Woman of the Year.
HONOR AND RESPECT
It all started, really, with Naylor’s father.
Travis Vecera served in World War II, as did seven of Naylor’s uncles. Vecera died in June 2001. His WWII jacket hangs in his daughter’s classroom.
The youngest of 12 children, Vecera’s military service wasn’t unusual. He had four older brothers who were already serving in the war when he joined up at age 17, not long before the conflict ended.
Vecera never talked much about his military service when he and his wife Myrtle were raising their family in Crowell near Wichita Falls, about 40 miles from the Oklahoma border.
“Daddy never talked about it, and I just never asked him,” Naylor said.
But as she grew older, Naylor began to realize two things: that soldiers in every war made great sacrifices, and that many maintained a stoic silence, silencing history in the process.
“That’s why this is so important to me, because there are so many who have not told their story,” Naylor said. “I’ve heard veterans say, ‘You know, we all did it.’”
In Naylor’s view, just because it was common for some generations to serve doesn’t mean that their sacrifices should be minimized.
“They deserve to be honored,” she said.
Oftentimes, a veteran is accompanied to the STARS campus by one of their adult children.
More than once, Naylor has heard an adult child of a veteran say, “That’s the first time I’ve heard that (story).”
She said, “You hear new things. They tell you something that you’re just not going to find in a history book.”
PURSUING A PASSION
Naylor began acknowledging the service of local veterans in her classroom back in the 1990s when she was a sixth-grade teacher at Oak Woods School.
At STARS, which provides flexibility and personalized self-paced courses, Naylor and her students have met with local VFW members to create a video/audio documentary of their wartime experiences.
The project was funded through a grant from the Granbury ISD Education Foundation, and the materials have been sent to the Library of Congress.
Naylor encourages her students to participate in veteran-related community projects, such as the twice-yearly Hospitalized Veterans Day Out.
Her students have been involved with the 9/11 parade and program and a Wet Veterans organization.
They have helped serve meals at Roll Call, a monthy luncheon for veterans in Fort Worth.
For the past two years, Naylor’s students have attended the World War II Glider Pilot Association Reunion in Mount Pleasant.
The history teacher encourages students to enter the VFW’s Voice of Democracy and Creative Patriotic Art annual competitions. Several of her students have won cash awards.
Naylor was presented the National Citizenship Education Teacher Post Recognition Award from VFW Post 7835 and was named the state winner of the VFW Smart/Maher National Citizenship Education Teacher Program for the 2015-16 school year.
A GREAT ASSET
Although some veterans have repeatedly turned down offers to speak to students because the memories are simply too painful, Naylor feels that some have found healing through the interactions.
“I’ve heard so many of them say (that) just to be acknowledged and appreciated means the world now,” Naylor said. “And I think that helps them through a lot.”
Veterans of every war since WWII have spoken to history classes at STARS, Naylor said, and they haven’t just been men. Female veterans have also made guest appearances.
J.C. Campbell, a veteran who has spoken to Naylor’s students, said he feels she is one of the GISD’s “greatest assets,” not only for the way she mentors students and helps them succeed academically, but also because she is working with the Library of Congress to preserve wartime history.
“I think that’s fantastic that she’s doing that,” he said.
STARS math teacher Terry Keith has worked with Naylor for 19 years and went with her and her students to volunteer at the Roll Call luncheon. He provides technology help for the interviews they conduct with veterans.
“She’s very passionate about these interviews, about working with the veterans and preserving their stories and what they have done for their country and trying to instill these values in her kids,” Keith said.
“The World War II veterans, there are not many left alive. (The interviews) will live on beyond them. The kids have really enjoyed it and gotten into it.”
He added of Naylor that she is “very caring and giving. She truly cares about the students and their success, not only in the classroom but in life as well.”
A PATH DIVERTED
Naylor didn’t set out to be a teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Texas A&M University and worked as an accounting assistant at the university before moving to Hood County with her first husband in 1978. Once here, she worked for a time at First National Bank.
After her two daughters, Haley and Kinsey, were in school, Naylor went back to school herself. She earned a teaching certificate from Tarleton State University in 1990.
Now married to Mike Irby, Naylor enjoys playing tennis, traveling and attending GISD games and choir performances as well as events on the square.
Her work partnering veterans with students is why she hasn’t retired after almost three decades of teaching.
“It has re-energized me,” she said. “This truly makes me feel like I really am making a difference.”
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258
