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Hebron Valley teacher still going strong at age 80
By Senitra Horbrook, shorbrook@acnpapers.com
At age 80, fourth-grade teacher Dale Swall is in no rush to retire.
“It’s been a grand 80 years, but I don’t think I’m 80, so I’ll go for 80 more,” he said.
Swall’s co-workers and friends gathered after school Feb. 3 in the library at Hebron Valley Elementary School to surprise Swall with an 80th birthday party.
Swall may be an octogenarian, but he lives the life of a man half his age, as described by fellow teacher Rochelle Masinelli. Swall wakes up at 4 a.m. every morning and walks two miles.
“Sometimes the police officers try to pick him up as an Alzheimer’s patient,” Masinelli said.
Swall arrives at Lewisville ISD’s Hebron Valley Elementary School by 6 a.m. and puts in a full day, sometimes not leaving until 6 or 7 p.m.
“I think he did more work in the morning before I got there, than any other teacher could do all day,” said Bret Lawson, a former co-worker. “The kids absolutely loved him.”
Teachers made poster boards describing facts and inventions from each decade of Swall’s life. Tears were shed when former student Pedro “Pete” Pelaez arrived to reflect on the impact Swall had on his life and wish him a happy birthday.
“When I got this e-mail last week, I said, ‘Boy, do I have to be there,” Pelaez said.
Born to teach
Swall was born Feb. 5, 1930, in Wisconsin. He spent some of his childhood in Minnesota, settling in Kansas City at the age of 8. It was during his experience as an Army soldier in Korea when he felt the calling to teach.
“I saw all the beautiful children. I just thought ‘Jeez, I’d love to teach kids,’” he said.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1954 and a master’s degree in school administration in 1966. Swall began his teaching career in 1954 as a fourth grade teacher at Pearl Harbor Elementary School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Over the past 56 years, Swall has also served as principal, superintendent, director and headmaster at schools in Germany, Colombia, Illinois, Peru and Chile. He first arrived in Texas in 1995 as a fifth- and second-grade teacher at Morningside Elementary in The Colony.
“I have a daughter who came to Texas to work,” he said about what brought him to Texas. “When we were going back and forth to South America, we would come here and stay with my daughter.”
Swall returned to Colombia for two years in 1997, then rejoined LISD as a fourth-grade teacher at Hebron Valley in 1999.
“I liked the fact that the school district is very progressive, and they were very happy to have an older person like me join the staff,” he said.
An inspiration to all
Many of his co-workers consider Swall an inspiration both personally and professionally.
“He’s got so much experience and so much knowledge previously from his experiences that I actually have learned things from him as an administrator,” said Felicia Sprayberry, Hebron Valley principal. “He tells me some of the things he has done in his life. He has just been a true inspiration to me. Personally, he takes such good care of himself, and we are just in awe of what kind of person he is.”
When fellow teacher Shauna Kiesling has a stressful day, she turns to Swall.
“Me coming in as a young teacher, to see him still be like that after 50 years, it makes me be like, ‘OK, I shouldn’t stress so bad or worry so bad because he’s handled it just fine,’ and he’s been doing it as long as some of these people have been alive,” she said.
Being a student in Swall’s classroom is a fun experience as Swall, an ex-concert pianist, plays the piano and sings songs with his class every morning.
“Most fourth-grade teachers aren’t going to do that. The kids, they remember every song; they remember everything,” Sprayberry said. “The thing that’s neat about him is as many years as he’s been in education, he will take the newest strategies, newest concepts and newest things and he will challenge himself to learn new technology.”
Current student Logan Parker said he wished Swall could be his teacher for every grade level.
“I’ve learned the most I’ve ever learned in school from Mr. Swall’s class,” he said.
No plans to slow down
Swall said his keys to staying young are eating right, exercising and working and living with people. He’s been married to Marian, a retired librarian, for 55 years and they have five children, included two adopted from Colombia and one adopted from Germany.
“That’s important because although many people do the adopting today, no one did it then,” Marian said.
The Swalls also have seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
While many dream of a leisurely life of golf and travel in retirement, Swall’s wife said her husband would “die of boredom being in leisure.”
Swall added that they’ve already got the traveling bug out of their systems.
“We’ve always traveled, now we’re settled down here,” he said.
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