by Evelyn Larson
After reading in “The Braille Forum” the article, “Ruth Haglund Craig,” from the “Salt Lake Tribune,” February 13, 2001, the years of the time clock sped back to March of 1938.
I started kindergarten at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind and came to know the real person behind all those facts and statistics — Miss Haglund, my kindergarten/first-grade teacher.
During a telephone conversation with Mrs. Craig late last year, I spoke to her of many memories I had in her class and how they had influenced my life. She was extremely interested in what I had to say, making me feel so important and special by entering my world, which should not have surprised me at all, because that’s how it was back then when my universe was only the small world of a child.
Dealing with disappointment was one of the first lessons I learned under Miss Haglund’s tutelage. Having entered kindergarten late in the school term, I felt keenly the disappointment of not being able to move on to first grade with the rest of my class. Miss Haglund, in her infinite wisdom, felt that I needed more time for growing.
In late March of 1940, I was hospitalized and did not return to school until the fall of that year. When I learned that I would be unable to complete first grade, I thought to myself, “Oh, no, the other kids in my class will go into second grade and I will be left behind again.” I was terrified as only a little child can be.
I’ll never know how Miss Haglund knew, but she did. I arrived home from the hospital and found a letter waiting for me. “Dear Evelyn,” it said, “I’m writing to you to let you know that you have been promoted to second grade.” My joy knew no bounds!
I recalled to Mrs. Craig’s memory the time we had gone on a field trip and how during the long bus ride back to school, I grew tired, curled up in her lap, and fell fast asleep, safe and secure in her arms. “I’m so glad you told me that,” she said, and the tone of her voice indicated that my relating this memory meant a lot to her.
On Miss Haglund’s birthday, she punished my favorite playmate and me for misbehaving and we had to stay indoors while the rest of the students were allowed to go outside and play. We made all manner of things with blocks and then decided to build a house for Miss Haglund. After all, it was her birthday! When she came in to check on us, we excitedly showed her our handiwork and our little voices rang with the melody of “Happy Birthday.” It wasn’t until years later when another teacher related a similar story, expressing her feelings, that I realized how Miss Haglund must have felt. She never let on. She just thanked us for remembering her birthday in such a special way.
“I only have one memory of you,” commented Mrs. Craig. “Oh, what’s that?” “I made sure all of you were dressed warmly and took you out to experience the wonders of an ice storm. You stood there, Evelyn, listening to the ice striking the ground, and finally said, ‘It sounds like my mother frying eggs for breakfast.’ I remember you as a very curious child, always wanting to know everything.”
“Do you use braille?” asked Mrs. Craig. “Yes,” I replied. “Braille is my mainstay, even though I do listen to recorded books and use computers with speech and braille displays.” My usage of braille seemed to concern her, because she again approached the subject.
It must have been in first grade when Miss Haglund showed me the braille alphabet. She told me that this would be how I would learn to read. I was fascinated. On going home for the weekend after this memorable event, my mother discovered me sitting on the floor, poking little dots with a safety pin in the pages of a print magazine. “What are you doing that for?” she asked. “I’m fixing it so I can read.”
Through the years, I became an avid reader and read almost everything in the Van Cleve Hall library, including the “Sally and Tim” series Miss Haglund wrote with two other teachers.
Our conversation covered a wide range of subjects. I mentioned being employed for 37 years as a medical transcriptionist, my happy marriage of almost 13 years until my husband’s death in 1999 and singing in the church choir for 36 years. Then we discussed my participation in the after-school tutoring program for first and second graders. I explained how useful print/braille books and raised print magnetic letters proved helpful to the children in reading practice.
I often think of Mrs. Craig while working with these first and second graders and want so much to impart to their young minds many of the things she has given to me.
Ruth Haglund Craig, you will always be remembered in my heart.