Isms: Original views on life from rural America

There will never be another Rita.

My first memories of the Orchard elementary teacher are from 2008, when I filled in during maternity leave for Kortney Sayers. Rita Shabram was one of the first people to welcome me. We’d stop to chitchat when we had a few moments. Occasionally, our lunch times would overlap and we’d talk about education and current events.

The best times, though, were after school, when we’d venture to one another’s classrooms and spend an hour or two, talking about and bonding over faith and life and family.

After I left education and began working for the newspaper, we’d see each other at sporting events - football, basketball, powerlifting and baseball - where she cheered on her alma mater ... and every person competing. In March, during the state powerlifting meet, I didn’t see her there, but soon, I heard Rita’s voice echoing through the gym, encouraging a lifter from another school. Classic Rita, always making everyone feel important.

At those events, if there wasn’t time for a long conversation, we’d steal a few moments away from the action and, before I’d return to picture taking, she’d squeeze my hand or offer a hug.

Oh, those hugs. The thing is, you might not think you needed one, but once received, a sense of peace and relief would wash over you. Rita was a calming presence in a boisterous world, a faithful soul serving as a sounding board, offering words of encouragement.

When her son, Jeff, hosted the Orchard AAU powerlifting Meet earlier this month, something told me to plop down on the bleachers next to the admisssion’s table and sit next to Rita. Typically, I sit on the opposite end of the gym, but my gut said “sit here.” Boy, am I glad I did. We talked off and on throughout the competition, cheered on her grandsons Wyatt, Gunnar and Palmer, encouraged my grandson Jorden, checked out granddaughter Stella’s thrift-store purchases and shed a few tears when special awards were presented by family members of two powerlifters who left this earth much too early.

As I gathered my camera bag, she grabbed my hand, giving that Rita squeeze many of us have come to know over the years, and told me, “This has been the best day.”

And, it really was ... a day spent with a woman who loved her family fiercely, a woman who professed her faith freely, a woman who was a friend to all, an example of grace.

The last time I saw her, we walked into a benefit in Ewing. As I rounded the corner, our eyes connected. She gave that impish, infectious grin and pointed at me. I made my way toward her and received another Rita squeeze, a few quick words of positivity.

I think about the impact she had on the students who entered her classroom and learned from the best, how anyone who knew Rita is lucky and blessed. We got to experience a precious gem of an individual who made a difference in this world.