A longtime faculty member in the East Newton School District will retire this school year.
Jean Kyle, technology director and former library science instructor, for the district has worked for the school district for the past 32 years.
“I have worked for the East Newton School District for 32 years, 28 of those in library and the last four years in technology,” Kyle said.
Kyle graduated from Neosho High School in 1966 and then went to Southwest Missouri State University, where she achieved a degree in elementary education and certification in library science.
As far as why she decided to go into library science, she said a former teacher had a big influence on her.
“Peggy Payne is the biggest reason why I went into library science,” Kyle said. “She had a big influence on my life in high school. I enjoyed working in the library with her.”
Prior to high school, Kyle noted that her mother also influenced her to read.
“My mom was an English teacher, and she instilled the love of reading, I read all of the time,” she said. “‘Gone with the Wind’ is probably my all-time favorite book. It made history interesting.”
Kyle has made some plans when she retires soon.
“I hope to spend a lot more time with my grandchildren,” she said. “And I would like to travel some. I don’t have any specific plans (on traveling) except to go to my mom’s family reunion in Virginia in August.”
Kyle has two children, Jennifer Dodson, who lives in Seneca, and Justin Branham, who lives in Neosho. Kyle has four grandchildren and one on the way.
In her spare time, Kyle does needlework, cross-stitch and quilting, but also keeps up on reading.
“I always have books, I am reading two right now, some best sellers. I like John Grisham and James Patterson,” she said. “I also read two newspapers a day — Neosho Daily News and Joplin Globe.”
Her advice to others is to, “make reading a big part of your life, always read.”
When Kyle taught library science, there were numerous things she taught the students.
“Study skills, research skills and those things have changed a lot since technology has come onto the horizon,” Kyle said. “We used to teach all of the book skills, like the Dewey Decimal system, how to find books on the shelf…you are not going to find everything online.”
Even though Kyle is retiring from the school district, she does plan to work part time at Crowder College’s library.
