Patty, Reading Readiness, and Mrs. Ann Ballinger

My sister Patty - Patricia Joanne Frazier - was born approximately 11 months after me (September 13, 1967).

Patty Jo - well - we were (and are) two totally different beings. Her - with her blond hair and blue eyes - me with my reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. She was petite. I was tall. She was artistic. I was "bookish". We shared a room for many years and let me tell you - that was both a curse and a blessing (but more on that later).

For her half-day of Kindergarten, Patty had Miss Crouse (soon to be Mrs. Ludwig). I made the assumption that when Patty moved to first grade, she would have Mrs. Lawson too (like I had). But when we went to pick up our information packets from school, I learned that she was going to be in Ms. Ballinger's class.

As a seven year old, I knew three things about Mrs. Ballinger. First, she was a tall, thin lady with dark dark hair. Second, her classroom was all the way over there and she didn't have as many students as some of the other teachers. Third, the woman was obsessed with bears. As in the stuffed kind.

When I scanned the information directory (a black, felt board, encased in class, located right inside the front entrance), it said that Mrs. Ballinger was a "Reading Readiness" teacher.

Huh? Reading Readiness?! Yep. It was explained to me that this was a grade which was between Kindergarten and First Grade where kids who had difficulty with some of the basics - phonics, reading, etc...were placed so that they could have an extra year of intensive attention dedicated to bringing them up to snuff.

My sister thrived in Reading Readiness. Mrs. Ballinger was just what she needed.

Through the extra and intensive 1:1 time with her teacher, we learned that she had dyslexia (although I'm not sure if in the early 70's - they called it that).

In addition, Mrs. Ballinger figured out that my sister was an artist and she somehow facilitated an opportunity for my sister to gain additional instruction through the Fort Wayne Arts School. It must have been free because there would have been no way that my family could have afforded to pay for it.

Two days a week, my mother would drive my sister over to the school (I think it was Wednesday after school and Saturday mornings). The building pictured here was a familiar site for me as I always had to ride along.

Truth be told, I was a little jealous that my sister was getting all of this attention. I couldn't even color within the lines and here she was, whipping out these masterpieces which were oooooed and awwwweeeedddd by adults everywhere.

Even today, I am still completely envious of how she can hand sketch a mural on the bedroom wall of one of her kid's room's. The results are always beautiful and I curse the heavens for not blessing me with the same talent. And just to be clear - I can now color within the lines...I just choose NOT TO :).

When I went back to Indian Village in May 2008 to visit, I learned that Mrs. Ballinger had passed away in 2003. When the school underwent remodeling, they created a mural to honor her.

As I looked at it, I smiled. And then I thought about my sister. She was incredibly lucky to be in a school system which recongized that she needed extra assistance before entering first grade. And then, to have a special teacher like Ann Ballinger - that was the icing on the cake. That woman was far ahead of her time. Her individualized approach to solving the challenge of - why is this child having difficulty reading was just so rare. The impact she made on students like my sister - that's a legacy we'd be all lucky to leave behind.

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ANN D. BALLINGER, 74, of Fort Wayne, died Monday, Dec. 1, 2003, at Lutheran Hospital. Born Aug. 22, 1929, in Logansport, she was a 1951 graduate of Ball State with a Masters degree from St. Francis University. Mrs. Ballinger was a Fort Wayne Community Schools teacher, who taught for 40 years, retiring in 2000. She began teaching in New Castle, in 1951, and moved to Fort Wayne, in 1952. She taught at Old Lakeside Elementary, Ward Elementary, Lafayette Center Elementary, Waynedale Elementary and Indian Village Elementary . She was Secretary for the American Association of University Women, Secretary of the Fort Wayne Womens Club, a member of the Local, State and National Reading Associations, Local, State and National Retired Teachers Associations, Coordinator of Project Read at Indian Village School, and a member of Phi Delta Kappa Educational Fraternity. She is survived by her husband, Norman H. Ballinger of Fort Wayne; sons, John S. Ballinger of Fort Wayne, Steven K. Ballinger of San Francisco, Calif.; granddaughter, Lauren Ballinger, of San Francisco; and brother, William Reutebuch of Chicago. Private service is Friday at Klaehn, Fahl & Melton Winchester Road Chapel, 6424 Winchester Road, with visitation from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Memorials to Project Read at Indian Village School.