Elementary, my dear

“Grandma Gene” Gorley may have set an endurance record with her 43 years on the playgrounds of several Central Valley elementary schools, but she’s certainly going out with style.

On a recent day at McDonald Elementary the 83-year-old widow sashayed into the office to begin her lunchtime shift with the verve and spunk of someone several decades younger. A snappy dresser, she seems determined to do everything with a touch of class – and attitude.

Gorley, who will turn 84 in September, began working for the school district in 1966 as her oldest daughter left for college and her youngest son was in elementary school. She first worked at University Elementary, then moved to Keystone Elementary when it opened in 1970. She was still there when the school closed in 2003, having worked an hour a day for 33 years. She’s been at McDonald ever since and has added morning and afternoon bus duty to her schedule.

“It really fills my day,” she said. “I’ve just kept doing it. I’m kind of a creature of habit.”

She has chafed in recent years about ever-increasing rules about not touching the students even though kids call her Grandma and rush up to get hugs regularly. But it’s her health that’s giving her the final push to leave the job she loves. “My eyes are getting so bad I can’t read,” she said. “I’ve got a few little health problems. I’m not saying it’s because of my age.”

Gorley delights in making outrageous comments, joking that her eyes are so bad that she can’t see which student she’s kicking and that her kicking kids around has given her a gimpy leg. But the students and staff see right though her.

“Gene has a huge heart for kids,” said Principal Kevin Longworth. “She’s like a salty old fisherman, cranky and cantankerous but with a big heart. She’s barking at them one minute and giving them tissues and hugs the next. They know that she loves them.

“When you’re Gene’s age, you’ve earned the right to act by your own rules.”

“We kid a lot,” said Gorley. “I’m serious about the kids. I worry so much.”

She turns serious when she talks about students who are homeless or the ones who tell her the Tooth Fairy didn’t leave anything under their pillow. “It’s bothering me more that I see so many hurt children,” she said.

It’s the kids that Gorley will miss the most and it’s probably the kids who will bring her back for occasional visits. “Oh, these kids,” she said. “They’re crying and I’m crying. I have so much fun with this bunch. This is going to be the hardest thing in my life. I will come back a lot.”

Gorley said her son is worried about what she’ll do with her time when she retires at the end of the school year. Gorley confesses she has no idea. “That’s just it,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m not much of a sitter.”

She mentions spending time with her “gentleman friends” that she’s made since her husband of more than 50 years, Richard, died of lung cancer five years ago. But then she can’t resist making a joke about not wanting any men around. “Just the young ones,” she laughed. “They’ve got to have money. And they’ve got to dance.”

The school will host a special farewell open house for Grandma Gene at 4 p.m. Thursday, and Longworth expects good attendance. “She’s influenced thousands of kids,” he said. “I think you’ll see hundreds of people.”