Former Grove teachers honored for decades of service to the community
GROVE, Okla. – The couple that taught thousands of Grove students “how to drive and type” were honored during a Grove class reunion on Saturday.
Around 50 alumni from the Class of 1979 gathered on Saturday to reminisce with old friends and honor Ed and Ramona Grimmett.
Former students in their 60s still addressed the couple as Mr. and Mrs. Grimmett. The couple turns 94 and 89 this year and will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in December.
The sentiment surrounding the reunion and conversation with the couple centered on how fortunate the class felt to be raised in Grove during the 1970s and have lifelong friendships extending across time and miles.
Mr. Grimmett began teaching Industrial Arts and driver training around 1955, and Mrs. Grimmett taught business classes, including typing and shorthand. They retired from teaching in 1991.
“He retired a few years before me,” said Ramona Grimmett. “We have been retired longer than we taught.”
The Grimmetts’ family was never limited to their three children, seven grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren, with another grandchild due in February. Their family included the students who passed through their classrooms for over 30 years.
Ramona Grimmett attributes her youthful vigor to walking and her faith, saying “God is our guide.”
Ed Grimmett regaled the group with several driving stories, including one about a young female student almost driving the student-driver-ed car into Grand Lake and when he was driving a school bus and a goat tried to board the bus.
Grove students were the best.
Ramona Grimmett, former teacher
“Mrs. Grimmett remembers all of us and was asking questions about our lives,” said Michelle White. “She is on Facebook and keeps up with all of us, which is fun and special.”
White, who helped organize the tribute with fellow classmate Patti Beth Anderson, said most of the classmates commented on how the two life skills taught by the Grimmetts—typing and driving—are used every day.
“Together, they taught us (Grove students) the life skills that we use daily – how to drive and type,” White said. “Those are the two skills we will use forever.”
She said, “Who knew in the 1970s that we would be typing on a device in our hands every single day?”
Anderson said Mr. Grimmett taught students how to drive in a town that, in the late 1970s, only had one four-way stop sign in the middle of Grove.
Many former students commented on the driving simulator in Mr. Grimmett’s Driver’s Ed class.
Other reunion activities include an all-school reunion scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 1, beginning at 2 p.m. in the middle school auditorium.
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