Like her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents before her, Judy Huddleston has spent her whole life actively involved in the local community. It wasn’t something she was taught, it was just “normal” life. That spirit of contributing has flowed through her career as a teacher, her volunteer work and her post-retirement role as a proofreader with the Western Wayne News. In this episode of the WWN podcast, Judy talks with Kate about Judy’s journey as an educator, shifts she has witnessed in the education landscape, and how newspaper production has changed over the years. Enjoy!
Transcript
Judy Huddleston: I’m Judy Huddleston, and I’m a proofreader for the Western Wayne News.
Kate Jetmore: From Civic Spark Media and the Western Wayne News in Wayne County, Indiana, I’m Kate Jetmore.
As a native of Richmond, Indiana, I’m excited to be sitting down with some of our neighbors and listening to the stories that define our community.
My guest today is Judy Huddleston, who spent 36 years teaching, primarily in special education, before retiring in 2014. She has lived in Wayne County for most of her life and has been married to her husband, Jerry, for 35 years.
Post-retirement, she began working at the Western Wayne News, helping with proofreading and other tasks after her brother and sister-in-law purchased the paper. Outside of work, she is involved with the local library board, volunteers at the Senior Center, and stays active in her church. She enjoys reading, playing pickleball, attending yoga and Pilates, and spending time with her grandchildren.
Welcome, Judy. Thanks so much for sitting down with me today.
Judy Huddleston: Hi, Kate. I’m glad to be here.
Kate Jetmore: Well, it’s clear, especially from your intro, that your history and your roots run deep in this community. What can you share not only about your own past, but your family’s history in the area?
Judy Huddleston: Well, except for just a few years here and there, I’ve lived in this area my whole life, and my parents lived here their whole lives, and my grandparents lived here their whole lives, and I even remember my great grandparents. So they are from this community also. And I think the sense of community evolved from that, because when your family roots are deep, that runs deep in the community also.
And I had a very all-American type family upbringing. Kind of, I’m dating myself here, but kind of Ozzie and Harriet type family.
You know, I had a two-parent family upbringing, and my mom had four children in six years, so we were close in age, and we grew up together and laughed together and played together and fought together like siblings do. And my parents took us places and did things with us and spent a lot of time with us. So it was, you know, a great upbringing.
My dad was a plant manager at a local factory here in Cambridge City that the Golay family was a part of, and my mom was a schoolteacher, and they were very active in the community themselves.
My dad was… I remember him being PTO president and coaching my brothers in Little League.
My mom was active in clubs, and I remember her taking us when she worked at the concession stands at the skating rink and taking us there to play. And they were very active in the community.
And so as children, that’s what we saw. So as adults, that’s what we do.
Kate Jetmore: Right. And how conscious do you think your parents were of being involved in the community? Do you think that was, do you think being involved in the community and participating in that active way was something that they were doing consciously? Or do you think it was just normal to them, that they were doing what their parents did?
Judy Huddleston: I think it was normal because they didn’t preach it. It’s just what they did.
Kate Jetmore: They led by example.
Judy Huddleston: Yeah. And, you know, so it’s what we saw, so that’s what we do. I mean, my brother’s on the town board. I’m on the library board, and I volunteer at the senior center, and my sister’s a secretary at the high school, and I see her volunteering countless hours above and beyond what she needs to do.
So I just think, I think strong families build strong communities. And I see that in my teaching experience, because I taught in a school where there were really transient families, and they didn’t have those strong family roots, and I think that’s a shame.
Kate Jetmore: So, was that school in Cambridge City as well?
Judy Huddleston: No, it was in Fayette County, Connersville.
Kate Jetmore: Okay. Okay. So whether it’s a shift sort of generationally, or whether you were witnessing a shift that had happened in a different community, you did witness a shift.
And in fact, I wanted to ask you, well, we’ll get to that. But I did want to go back to talking to you about your years as a teacher.
You are a retired educator, as I said in the intro. So let’s go back. What was it like becoming a teacher? Your mom was a teacher, as you mentioned. And what can you share about your many years in the classroom?
Judy Huddleston: Well, I’m very proud of being a teacher. And it’s something I loved. And I think I always wanted to be a teacher, even as a little kid.
Because I loved school myself. And I think part of that was because I kind of just have a natural love of learning. And I’m still like that.
Even though I’m retired and out of school, I’m just a naturally curious person. And I think I wanted to share that love of learning even when I was younger, but I think that’s what spurred it originally. And I think being a special educator was interesting to me, because even as a youngster, I saw back in the olden days when I was a kid, there was a whole population of kids that just kept getting passed along because their needs weren’t getting met. And I knew it. I saw it. And I knew that wasn’t right. And I wanted to help that population of kids. So that’s what kind of got me interested in special education.
And so I went to Ball State to get my bachelor’s degree in special education with cognitive disabilities. My true passion, though, was really teaching kids with emotional disabilities, but that was a master’s program. So I started my career with cognitive disabilities, got my master’s degree in emotional disabilities, and then started in that area teaching. And I really loved that. I taught a self-contained class with emotional disabilities.
And then I became a consultant. I traveled to different corporations and worked with teachers, developing plans for kids, with teachers having kids with behavioral problems or emotional problems. And I did that for several years.
And then I finished my career going back to the classroom with kids with cognitive disabilities, which was a great way to finish my career because while I loved the consultant job, it became frustrating to me, because you could have a great plan that you knew would work, but you would leave it in somebody else’s hands.
And while you knew it was a great plan, sometimes you would leave it in somebody’s hands that you knew wasn’t going to implement it properly or was not capable of implementing it, and that became frustrating.
Kate Jetmore: I can imagine that, and also when you talk about why you were drawn toward the vocation of being an educator, you talked about wanting to make a difference, wanting to do your part.
And so I can sort of imagine that once you weren’t actually in the classroom, that must have been kind of hard. That you were, you know, once or twice removed from the kids that you wanted to help.
Judy Huddleston: Yeah, you lost your control a little bit.
You know, originally, I thought, okay, I’m going to affect more people this way, but in essence, I felt I had less control at the end. That’s how I felt.
Kate Jetmore: Isn’t it funny how, you know, the world keeps getting faster and bigger and you can reach more people and scale up, you know, but that’s not always the best way.
I mean, one-on-one or even, I mean, one-on-one is unbeatable, but, you know, a teacher in a classroom with a group of students, I mean, how can you improve on that?
Judy Huddleston: Yeah, so going back to the classroom was definitely a great way to end my career.
And I… I worked with a wonderful group of people who were hardworking, and it was just great. So I did a lot of different things in my teaching career, and I enjoyed every bit of it for different reasons, but it was good to be back in the classroom in the end.
Kate Jetmore: I’ll bet. I’ll bet. Yeah, I can sense that from you. And I would assume that you’ve seen lots and lots of changes over your years and even decades when it comes to education.
I’m curious as to your reflections on the current state of education and the experience of both teachers and students.
Judy Huddleston: Well, I don’t know if we have enough time to go through that, Kate. But let me just say…
Kate Jetmore: Even the broad strokes would be good.
Judy Huddleston: Yeah. Well, when I started teaching in 1978, there was, truthfully, there really wasn’t a lot of oversight.
There was a lot of trust in teachers just to do their job.
And, I mean, you were evaluated by your principal yearly, and pretty much if you followed the curriculum, you were doing okay.
And then things changed drastically with the introduction to statewide testing.
It was very, most of my career there was statewide testing.
But what happened is, I remember specifically people saying, oh, they’re going to start teaching to the test, and that’s not a good thing. And that’s exactly what happened.
ISTEP, I think it started being taught, administered in the fall, and then they moved it to the spring. And I think they gave a two-week window to get it all done.
It didn’t take two weeks to do the complete testing, but they gave that to you to do it. But it usually takes maybe four days to complete the testing.
But what it ended up doing, it’s such a high-stakes thing because funding became involved in it, school funding.
Kate Jetmore: Right.
Judy Huddleston: So then, at least I’m going to speak from, I’ve been retired for 10 years, and so things are probably different now, so I’m just going to speak to what it was like when I quit teaching.
Because there are such high stakes, they wouldn’t just test that week of ISTEP, you would test three times additionally in a year to find out what your students’ deficits were, so they could remediate those deficits before they took the test.
Kate Jetmore: Right.
Judy Huddleston: So, not only would you test for ISTEP, you would test for the test so you’d know what to plug in their skill deficits so they could do better on the test.
So you’re testing four times a year, not just once. See what I’m saying?
Kate Jetmore: I do hear what you’re saying, and even your description just makes me feel stressed out.
Judy Huddleston: And then when you find out what those deficits are, you start teaching, trying to plug those up before they take the test.
Everything is focused on the test. And then you hear people complaining that kids don’t know cursive, they don’t know history, they don’t know science. Well, that’s because we’re doing all this testing stuff.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. And, you know, again, to circle back to that spark that led you to Ball State to become a teacher, to become a special ed teacher, and then to specialize in your masters.
You were talking about the word curiosity. And how do you have time to bring that spark to the kids in your classroom and to encourage them to explore and stimulate their curiosity when, as you said, you’re teaching to the test?
Judy Huddleston: It became very frustrating to me. And as a special educator, there’s other things involved, too, that I won’t get into.
It’s just, so much time is spent on it that’s taken out, taken away from instruction because you’re doing so much time on testing. And it just became increasingly frustrating to me.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah, I can imagine.
Judy Huddleston: And I hear that from teachers all over.
Kate Jetmore: Do you think it’s increasing? Do you think that’s getting… I don’t want to use the word worse, but do you think it’s getting more and more marked as the years go by?
Judy Huddleston: Yes, I hear my teacher friends voice that same frustration.
Kate Jetmore: How do you think we can help our teachers so that they can help our kids?
Judy Huddleston: That’s a very good question. I still think there are very dedicated teachers out there, and they, you know, I hear teachers being frustrated, but I also hear from teachers who still love their jobs, and they still love those kids.
But my fear is, you know, I taught for 36 years. I fear you’re not going to have those long teaching teachers anymore, because they’re gonna burn out faster. That’s my fear.
Kate Jetmore: Well, thank goodness for those figures who are in the classroom every single day for our kids. And they are an integral part, and I’ll say you are an integral part because you’re part of that teaching community and definitely were an active part until you retired, but an integral part of our community. You know, a strong, strong part of a healthy community.
Judy Huddleston: Well, I hope so. I mean, I did love teaching and like I said, I do worry that you’re not going to have the longevity in teaching anymore, but I could be wrong about it.
I’m afraid, I’m afraid there’s going to be burnout quicker.
Kate Jetmore: Mm-hmm. Well, Judy, let’s shift our attention now to the paper, to the Western Wayne News. I know you started working for the paper after your brother and sister-in-law bought it.
Tell us a bit about what that looked like and what exactly you do as a proofreader there.
Judy Huddleston: Okay. Well, when I retired, was kind of looking just for something to fill some time, and my sister-in-law… My brother was more hands-off with the paper, and my sister-in-law kind of ran it.
Then she said, why don’t you come spend some time here? We could use some extra help. And I started kind of doing some receptionist-type jobs, working the phone and filling subscriptions and that kind of thing.
And interestingly enough, back then to mail the paper, they did their own mailing labels for the paper. They put them on themselves, they sorted the paper by mailing routes, put them in crates, and shipped them off to the post office themselves, and it took hours just to do that. So I helped do that, but that’s all done by the printer now.
So that’s not even a job anymore. That’s one thing that’s changed. And then I did proofreading. I’ve always done, since I’ve worked there, I’ve done the proofreading. And I used to do it at the office on Mondays before it went to press. And basically now, with the new owner, he sends it to me on Sunday evening.
And I read it, and then go in Monday and talk to everybody about what I found, and then it goes to press, and I’m the last person to see the paper, and I think you’ve done a podcast previously with Mike Emery. He’s the one that does the layout.
So he does the layout, then an editor looks at it, Chris, the owner, looks at it, I think Millie, one of the reporters, looks at it before it all comes to me as the proofreader. So other people have seen it before me, so I’m the last person.
And things I look for typically are, I’ll look to see if the page jumps make sense because sometimes maybe a line is left off when they jump from page to page, or a page reference isn’t correct, or maybe a line gets repeated, something like that might happen, or sometimes names are spelled wrong.
But I’ll tell you what, a lot of weeks I’ll look and think I’m doing something wrong because I’m not finding hardly any errors because our people are really good.
And I don’t find very many mistakes. And occasionally I might read an article and think, well, this little sentence here doesn’t make much sense.
And then I’ll go to the reporter that wrote it and say, hey, I think you need to clarify this because it’s not sounding right.
And they’ll say, well, if it doesn’t make sense to you, it probably won’t make sense to the reader, and they may change it. But that very rarely happens because they are really good reporters.
So that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. There’s so much in what you’ve just said. I mean, I want to go all the way back to you putting labels by hand on all the newspapers, and it makes me think about…
Judy Huddleston: Isn’t that crazy?
Kate Jetmore: Well, but it’s also beautiful in the sense that, you know, we know our neighbors’ names. We know what street they live on.
And once a week we’re seeing them and we’re actually taking that sticker and putting it on their newspaper. And then that newspaper ends up on their doormat.
There’s something really beautiful about that. Now, do we do it that way anymore? No. And I think people would think it was crazy, as you said, if we still did.
And yet, you know, we still need that connection with our neighbors.
So I guess we have to find it in other ways?
Judy Huddleston: Yeah, you’re right. We do. But, you know, it’s interesting. I like doing the proofreading, and I think that goes back to my original, my natural curiosity, because I like reading the paper.
Kate Jetmore: Yeah. And you’re not alone. I mean, the newspaper brings so much to us every, you know, whether it’s a daily or weekly in this case.
And especially a local paper keeps us informed and keeps us connected when it comes to the local community.
Judy Huddleston: I hear people talking about stuff, and they act like they don’t know what’s going on, and I’m always saying, didn’t you read that in the paper?
Kate Jetmore: And do you say something?
Judy Huddleston: Yes, I do. And I told Chris, our owner, I said I’m probably the most informed person in this county, because I’m probably the only person that’s read the whole paper.
Kate Jetmore: From cover to cover.
Well, Judy, it’s so nice to meet you, and it’s great to hear more about your history in the area, your family, and your work at the paper.
So thank you so much for joining me today. I want to wish you and your family all the best.
Judy Huddleston: Well, thanks for having me. It was a pleasure to be with you, and nice meeting you.