Evelyn Tangwall wasn't your average teacher. It was easy to see that in the affection that her Irving School students showed her May 30 -- 44 years after they had passed her fifth grade class.
About a dozen middle-aged adults gathered at St. Ann's Residence Friday evening to reminisce about spending fifth grade under her guidance in 1958-59.
Stephen Johnson, a teacher himself in St. Louis Park, said, "What stood out as far as I was concerned, she never, ever yelled. She knew how to get a classroom to do what she wanted without ever having to raise her voice. The other thing is she remembers every one of us."
Glen Sandvick, who moved to Lewiston, Idaho, in 1961 and was seeing some of his former classmates for the first time in 42 years, still remembers Miss Tangwall as the best teacher he ever had. A production quality analyst at Boeing in Everett, Wash., he traveled half way across the country to see her again. "She was very meticulous," he said, "about us being able to spell, using proper grammar and never ending a sentence with a preposition."
Mary (Blotti) Anderson, who works as a secretary at an art school in Fish Lake, Wis., and is an amateur pastel artist, said, "She loved to do art in her class. She was one of the few teachers that did."
ADVERTISEMENT
On and on the students went, praising their teacher.
Miss Tangwall, age 92, remains as sharp as they come. After graduating from Duluth Teachers College in 1931, she worked as a substitute teacher until 1942 when she was hired full-time at Irving. Her first class had 42 students. She loved it, and stayed on in the same classroom for 31 years. She retired in 1973.
As her former students shared stories and old photographs, Miss Tangwall said, "It just thrills me to see how they kept their pictures from way back when. It shows they were a good bunch."
She greeted each student, remembering them all. "They were all each an individual," she said. "They all had so much to offer."
Catherine (Conito) Kopari of Duluth who was in Miss Tangwall's first class, sixth grade at Irving, said, "It was the nicest year I had in all of grade school. I was so shy at that time, and she really brought it out of me."
Bernice Graves of Duluth said, "I was never afraid of her. Some teachers you were nervous being with them. She was always pleasant. If she scolded you, she didn't embarrass you."
Bob Keppers, a supervisor at the Duluth Post Office, said, "We got a bad rap coming from Raleigh Street." But then he admitted, "I used to be a hellion."
Miss Tangwall said, "I always considered myself one of the Irving gang," because she lived a block off Raleigh Street until she was 9.
ADVERTISEMENT
Like the others, Gerald Besvold said Miss Tangwall was always pleasant. "You gotta love kids," he said, "and if you don't love kids, you shouldn't go into teaching."
Jerry "Sam" Zanko, who lives by Island Lake, summed it up for everyone. "I was sweet to her, and she was sweet to me."
