Fair Grove High School has many teachers as a part of its faculty, but they can’t stay forever, no matter how much we love them.  Math teacher Beth Mauldin has been at Fair Grove for 12 years, and now it’s time for her to go. After all this time teaching Calculus, Statistics, and Algebra I, she is finally retiring, or as she likes to put it, “I am finally graduating from High School!”

This was a fairly recent decision for Mrs. Mauldin. She said, “Over the Christmas holidays my husband and I were talking about plans and ideas for the future, and as we were running the numbers, we suddenly realized that we could start those future plans right now! Leaving your current stage is always hard, and people can focus on that as a negative emotion, but I prefer instead to focus on jumping into something new, which is a very positive emotion.”

Mrs. Mauldin lives on a farm and plans to live the rest of her life there.  She explained, “I have lots and lots of farm plans. An orchard full of fruit trees, 100 ewes, 4 rams, 4 dogs, 20 chickens, and 1 mean ol’ llama will take up quite a bit of my time.”

When she’s not busy, she still has an idea to keep some cash coming in.  “I will also tutor engineering, math, and science at the local universities. That way I still get to teach!”

Along with this, Mrs. Mauldin and her husband have started a non-profit charity called Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which helps build beds for children who don’t have any. 

After all the years she’s been here, leaving will be hard. Mrs. Mauldin added, “I will miss all the wonderful people. I’ve lived all over the world, but I’ve never lived somewhere like this! Almost every morning, some polite student opens the door for me. When I see kids in town, they run up to visit. They actually like the grown ups in their lives.”

The school will truly be different without her.

Editor’s Note: For more information regarding Sleep in Heavenly Peace please visit  https://www.shpbeds.org/