Roe: Teaching for a lifetime

Wanda Roe of Pea Ridge is pictured with some of the art she has created over the years.
Wanda Roe of Pea Ridge is pictured with some of the art she has created over the years.

Rachel Dickerson

Special to The TIMES

Wanda Roe of Pea Ridge has been teaching her entire life and has no plans to stop.

She graduated from high school at Norfork, Ark., and started teaching at age 19. She is certified to teach in six fields. She started as an art and drama major. Her husband was superintendent of schools.

"He said, 'Why don't you take some home ec, because I'm always looking for a home ec teacher.'" The next thing she knew, he asked her to take library science.

"I said if he ever asked me to do math or agri, I would divorce him," she said.

She sponsored a lot of senior classes over the years, and so she got her master's degree in guidance and counseling. She is also certified in music and social studies.

"I've gone to school all my life," she said.

She taught 37 years in high school and 10 years in college.

Gov. Bill Clinton appointed her to the Gifted Talented State Board, on which she served two terms, and Gov. Mike Beebe appointed her to the Arkansas Humanities Council, on which she served two terms.

Roe's home has plenty of examples of art she has created. She teaches art classes in a studio next to her home.

"As a little kid I drew, and I didn't have any art materials. I had crayons and pencils. There were no girls on my street, so I played with the boys. I would climb up a tree and draw paper dolls. When I got to college and saw all the things you could use, I just couldn't believe it -- all the paints and all the equipment.

"I loved all my art classes. I didn't realize when I was having the history and appreciation classes that I would enjoy that so much," she said.

She said she tried to let her students know about the history and appreciation part of art. She misses having access to that kind of a class now, she noted.

"That's really a more important part than I realized when I was a kid. The people and the kind of materials they had available -- that influenced the kind of art they developed."

Roe has traveled widely, visiting all 50 states and about 40 foreign countries, she said.

"After we retired we would go someplace for some reason and we would go one way and come back another," she said. After her husband died, she counted how many states she had been in and she had been to all of them except Minnesota.

She has been to Hawaii twice, Greece, Russia, South America, etc.

"It's been wonderful. I've had a wonderful life," she said.

Roe teaches a spring art class and a fall art class in the studio next door to her house. She has equipment for 10 people. She has done this for about 20 years.

"I've been teaching all my life. I keep telling my students I'm going to quit. I'm getting too old. I guess I'll keep on teaching. I don't know how long."

As for future plans, Roe hopes to keep traveling. She took three trips last year, she said.

Community on 02/08/2017