Two Seymour Community School Corp. teachers are moving on to their next chapter after retiring May 26, which was the last day of school for teachers.
Combined, they have 76 years in education with Kelly Bishop completing 37 years and Dave Boggs finishing with 39 years.
Kelly Bishop
Bishop, 59, has been a teacher for 37 years, all of them spent at Seymour-Jackson Elementary School.
New Albany is her hometown, but she made the move to Seymour 37 years ago after she was hired for her teaching job in Seymour.
“I graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, and then I moved back to New Albany to look for a position in Floyd County,” Bishop said. “That’s when Dr. Mahan, the superintendent at the time, called and asked me to come to Seymour for a job interview the summer of 1987.”
She was so excited when she was hired as a special education teacher, and soon after, she moved to Seymour.
Bishop said she had some wonderful teachers at New Albany, and two in particular, Mr. Simms and Mrs. Johnson, inspired her to become a teacher.
“I think it was the confidence they built and gave me, and they noticed every student in class and made a connection with each one,” Bishop said. “In high school, with that many classes and that many students, it’s a hard thing to do, but I feel like that made a difference.”
She has served at Jackson in several capacities besides special education. She was teaching second grade at the time of her retirement, but she also taught English as a second language and third, fourth and fifth grades. She said her favorite was third grade.
“Dave Thompson was principal when I first started and offered me an abundance of grace and guidance,” she said. “I’d never taught in a classroom before.”
Some of her favorite memories from teaching are the field trips, but her favorite is when she runs into students she taught who are now successful adults and they always say, “Remember when?” and they talk about old times.
Bishop has three children, Emily, Rochelle and Patrick, and four grandchildren. She is looking forward to traveling with some other retired teachers, spending time with her father in Florida and having more time with her grandkids in Floyd County.
Kathy Ann Porter, music teacher at Jackson, called out Bishop, who was in the bleachers with her class during the recent fourth and fifth grade concert held in the school gym.
“Some people are in our lives for a really long time and we know them from the time we’re itty bitty or some people are in our lives just a short period of time,” Porter said. “But this lady has been a complete inspiration to me because she has got the fortitude and the compassion that I hope I have for the rest of my teaching career.”
Dave Boggs
Indiana Swimming Hall of Fame coach Dave Boggs served as the aquatics director and head swim coach at Seymour High School and taught in Seymour for 39 years. Overall, he was a teacher for almost 46 years.
He is originally from Muncie, and after graduating from Muncie North High School, Boggs received his bachelor’s degree from Ball State University and his master’s degree from Miami.
Boggs and his wife, Chris, have two sons.
He has made it clear he loves the sport of swimming, and even though he has coached other sports, swimming is pretty black and white and is easy to scout, he said in a past Tribune interview.
Boggs taught physical education, health, aquatics and adaptive PE at Seymour High School up until the time of his retirement.
Seymour Community School Corp. Superintendent Brandon Harpe said Boggs is a student-centered educator who has impacted a lot of lives over the years.
“One of my memories of Dave is when we added a new class to his schedule in the mid-2000s called adaptive PE,” Harpe said. “Adaptive PE is a PE/aquatics class that is designed for special needs students.”
He said it didn’t take long until Boggs was telling everyone it was his favorite class because the kids responded to him so well.
“He has become an advocate for those kids, and I really believe it reinvigorated his career,” Harpe said.
Seymour High School Principal Greg Prange said he met Boggs in August 1984 at a faculty meeting in the cafeteria.
“We were both first-year teachers, and since that time, coach Boggs has rewritten the record books of Seymour High School swimming,” Prange said. “From an Olympic swimmer to minnows in the age group swimming, there is not much that he hasn’t experienced.”
He said Boggs is recognized throughout the state as a member of the Hall of Fame and has taught thousands of students in health and physical education.
“While we will miss him during the school day, his current plans are to continue coaching the swim teams,” Prange said.