Kay Albano Dahle Hometown: Chicago, IL Current Home: San Antonio, TX Major: Elementary Education; Art Email: kdahle@smhall.org
After graduating from Concordia, I taught in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, for two years. I was married to Lee J. Dahle (’68) and moved to Iowa City, Iowa, while Lee was in graduate school. I taught third grade. Doctoral deferments were cancelled, and we were in the U. S. Air Force which took us many places. I taught school in a small town outside Dover, Delaware. I only taught for a year and a half before we were reassigned to San Antonio, Texas. I managed to get employment at an IGE (individually guided education) school in the fourth and fifth grade unit teaching reading to children in a Title I program. I taught there for three years, moving to a third-grade unit and finally to a kindergarten - first grade unit. While there, I was the school representative to the local Region 20 Education Service Center. When married to an officer in the service, we move a lot. We were transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was a substitute teacher and decided to get my teaching certificate for Colorado. I also pursued an interest in fiber arts and started weaving on a floor loom. Finally, I did get work at the Colorado Springs Child Nurseries as a kindergarten teacher. One accomplishment I had while living in Colorado was climbing and hiking ten mountains, each over fourteen thousand feet high. I worked until our next move to Vandenberg AFB in California, where I went to school in Early Childhood Education. Life changed. Divorced, I returned to San Antonio to find a teaching position. I was extremely lucky to be appointed as a Form 2 teacher at Saint Mary’s Hall, a private school. I taught Form 2 for over 24 years. I became the Director of Student Services for Lower School and continue to help students and teachers today. I was awarded the Jaime Armstrong Bennett Award for contribution to the school and students and for demonstrating the qualities valued by the school’s founders. I also was awarded two summer grants, one to study gifted and talented at the University of Connecticut Reader’s Theater in London, and a Science History grant traveling throughout England and Scotland with an emphasis on child labor in the 19th and 20th centuries. I am a breast cancer survivor. I am thankful for my sister, Paula, and many friends who helped me during chemo and recovery. I am a member of the Sanctuary Choir, Lydia Circle Bible study group, Eucharistic minister, visit homebound members and head of Altar Guild of Christ Lutheran Church Alamo Heights, San Antonio. I am an avid reader of science, nature, history and mystery novels. I still dabble in fiber arts.
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