Rebecca Payne McHargue: Tekoa teacher wraps up career where she began

First grader Rebecca Payne McHargue walked in on her first day of school in Tekoa in 1955.

That little girl went on to graduate from high school, then college, and later return to Tekoa and teach first grade in the exact same classroom.

Fifty-five years since her first day of school, McHargue is walking out on her last day of school.

“I’ve been here most of my life,” McHargue said.

The retiring Tekoa native figures she has put in 36 years as an elementary teacher or principal.

“I’ve had close to 20 second-generation students,” McHargue said.

Her last day of teaching is June 9.

In an interview with the Gazette Tuesday, McHargue reflected on a lifetime of teaching and living in Tekoa.

“Education for me is the key that really changes a person’s destiny just because it opens up so many opportunities in life you can say yes to,” McHargue said.

She spent 28 years teaching first grade, seven years as elementary principal, and taught second grade this year.

In that time, she watched the nation’s teaching philosophy evolve from students just punching out worksheets into students learning through more hands-on lessons.

It was a shift for the better, McHargue maintains.

“I remember, the first graders, the light and glow in their eyes didn’t turn off halfway through the year. I knew we were on track with that,” she said.

Watching her students grow up, go to college, get married and have children which come through her class is also a blessing, she said.

For example, a first grader she had many years ago, Brenda Babb, grew up and became Brenda McFarling.

Today, her daughter, Avery McFarling, is a student of McHargue.

“I remember both Brenda and Avery as being very outgoing. [They were] dramatic in their expressions, very dear sweet children who did their best work and were excited about school and learning,” she said.

“That’s one of the cool things about being in one place for most of your life. You see the longitudinal outcome,” she said.

McHargue said she is the fourth generation of Paynes to live in Tekoa.

She left Tekoa in her junior year of high school and graduated from Northwest Christian in 1967. She left for college in Oklahoma and received a teaching degree from the University of Tulsa in 1973.

She married Donald McHargue in 1974. McHargue, a farmer, is also from Tekoa.

She received her masters degree from Eastern Washington University in 1989.

“It’s been a dream career. Since I attended school here and came back as a teacher it’s been so rewarding,” she said.