Desire To Learn Is All It Takes To Realize Goal

It was so humiliating, Vonnie Jaynes cried. But she knew she couldn’t overcome illiteracy unless she asked for help.

“It’s very hard to say, ‘I’m stupid,”’ Vonnie says, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

Tests showed she wasn’t illiterate. But Vonnie hadn’t underestimated her educational level by much.

At age 48, she read at a high school level. But her writing skills hadn’t progressed beyond the third grade and her math skills were those of a fifth-grader.

Vonnie had quit school at 15 to marry. She was pregnant and three months into her sophomore year. By 48, she had raised four children, celebrated 33 wedding anniversaries and waitressed for 20 years.

She had tried once to earn the equivalent of a high school diploma, but failed three tests and bagged the idea. Then last year, the Avondale woman quit a waitress job and found herself with time to ask for help.

The Hayden Lake librarian who heard Vonnie’s tearful confession of illiteracy steered her to North Idaho College’s Learning Center. Teachers there tested her, then suggested classes. The help was free and generously given.

Vonnie was one of two grandmothers among dozens of young students. She quickly learned to sit by the smartest people.

“Why sit by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing?” she says. “Teachers encouraged us to feed off our classmates.”

She studied in class, with tutors, in small groups four days a week for a year. Last December, Vonnie passed all of her tests. At graduation Tuesday, she was student of the year, chosen from 350 graduates. Now she volunteers as a tutor.

“The confidence I feel now is unexplainable,” says the learning center’s most ardent supporter. “It’s never too late if the desire is there.”

She has gone to all of her high school reunions, but this summer she’ll go as a graduate. Vonnie also will respond for the first time in 35 years to the reunion committee’s request for an essay about herself.

“Because this year I can write,” she says through fresh tears.

Knock, knock

The tale Cheryl-Ann Rossi’s Theater for Youth will tell Friday and Saturday at Lake City High is a true child’s work. Her son, Robbie Vanek, wrote the story in third grade and Cheryl-Ann developed it into “The Secret of the Dragon’s Door,” complete with seven songs and dances.

All of you folks clamoring for family entertainment: here it is. You can’t miss with a good dragon, evil knights, a princess, a magical forest and dancing checkers. Sixty-five children have roles in the 80-minute musical.

Tickets are $3 for students and $4 for adults. The show starts at 7 p.m.

What goes around, comes around

Michell Charles, Randy Tester, Sean Coyle and Kimberly Childress were Murray Elementary’s big kindergarten class in 1982. The school closed a few years later and the kids scattered.

Michell and Randy will graduate next month in Wallace. Sean will graduate in Coeur d’Alene and Kimberly from Moscow High.

But they stayed connected and this fall will reunite as freshmen at the University of Idaho. You just can’t break up a good thing.

Talk to the animals

So your cat ate the neighbor’s bird or your dog chewed holes in your favorite shoes. You should get something out of all those years of scooping, well, you know what.

Tell me the funny, heroic or ridiculous things your pets have done and, if your story hits print, I’ll send you a wonderful “Close to Home” T-shirt. This true collector’s item is worth your best stories in less than 300 words and a photo of your terrific pet.

Dash them off to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 83814; FAX them to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.