Helen LAWSON

Mrs. Lawson was my third grade teacher at my then-new school, Demmitt Elementary. I arrived from out of state not knowing how to write cursive that my new classmates had already learned the previous year.

Mrs. Lawson made it her mission to very quickly get me up to speed; I spent hours at home with her self-devised cursive practice workbooks. Mrs. Lawson would write out a "sampler" of sorts in her own gorgeous, perfect (aspirational) script and assign me to copy using her examples. I´d happily get to work making page after page of curlicues and attempting the required right-leaning slant - something very difficult for me to perfect as a leftie.

I struggled mightily with my cursive and
despite my earnest attempts, often received low marks on my cursive class work and report card, but I was undaunted!

Mrs. Lawson inspired me to continually improve my handwriting and a lifelong interest in handwriting, fonts and design was fostered.

For fun and pleasure, I hand address in (my perfect script) wedding and party invitations. I even addressed my own wedding invitations when I realized that my own handwriting was just as pretty as the recommended calligrapher´s!

I´m sorry that I wasn´t able to convey these fond memories to Mrs. Lawson while she was alive.

Belated thank you, Mrs. Lawson, from a grateful student in your 1977-1978 third grade class. I certainly was a curious and eager learner and still am, all these years later.