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Sharon Ridley was presented with a banner of
well wishes during a retirement party in her honor held at the
Jarrett House. Ridley, who initiated adult literacy and GED classes
at Southwestern Community College, recently retired after spending
31 years in the education field.
By Rose Hooper
In Jackson County's history, Sharon Ridley will be remembered
as one of the great educators.
It won't be because she has been a president or principal, chairman
of a board or even an outspoken advocate.
Instead it will be because Ridley, in her own quiet manner, has
been involved in the heart of education. From her beginnings at
the grassroots community level to the community college classroom,
she has raised the level of literacy in Jackson County.
In May, she retired after spending 31 years of her life nurturing,
encouraging and teaching others.
When she was working at the continuing education department at
Southwestern Community College, it became her job to initiate
adult literacy classes.
"Where do I start?" Ridley, having no model or game
plan to follow, thought. What she did have, though, was spunk.
"I lived on Cope Creek, so I just set out on foot and decided
to knock on doors. The first door I knocked on was somebody I
knew, and I asked her if she wanted to go back to school and get
her GED," Ridley said, describing her first of many success
stories. "Luckily, she said 'yes.' I don't know what I would
have done if she'd said 'no.'"
From kitchen tables in Canada community to front porches in Qualla,
sharing homemade cake alongside text books in Pumpkintown and
sipping soda pop to soften vowel sounds in cramped mobile homes
in Cullowhee, from church pews to chicken coops, Ridley held home-based
literacy classes in coves and hollows throughout the county.
"I remember when my first GED student graduated," said
Ridley. "She ran out the door shouting; she excited me –
and everybody in her family."
Family provides important support in Jackson County literacy,
said Ridley, whose right shoulder drooped from carrying her suitcase
full of materials.
"In some of my classes, we had grandparents learning right
alongside their grandchildren," she said. "The grandparents
always tried extra hard; they wanted to be good role models."
Ridley told of one student, a young father who couldn't read,
who asked her what he should get his kids for Christmas.
"I suggested a board game. When he bought it, I taught him
to read by reading the directions so he could teach them to his
kids," said this enterprising instructor.
"It's like stars popping out at night when things finally
click," she said, recalling an older student who could not
read. "He knew road signs had some kind of meaning and could
recognize what a stop sign was because of its color and shape.
When he learned that the words actually told directions, he finally
put it together what road signs were all about," said Ridley,
who served as the road map to a new life for this gentleman.
"Reading skills open up so many new opportunities for people
and help them gain strength and courage along with wisdom,"
she continued. "It can change their career paths, too."
While she was developing literacy skills out in the community
Ridley began establishing on-campus classes.
"Soon it all became very fluid – from the community
to the classroom," said Ridley, who developed reading materials,
recruited students, established classes and trained tutors and
instructors.
She's watched technology change drastically over the years. Early
on, instructional materials came as individualized packaged courses,
which she kept in a file cabinet. Then along came color-coded
strips and controlled reading booths. That was followed by film-
strip projects, which advanced to computers.
Along with technology, literacy teaching methods also changed.
"We had been using the popular Laubach method but opinions
have changed. It was too structured, and thinking shifted to using
a more wholistic approach," said Ridley, who was always taking
more courses and specialized training to learn new skills.
She earned her bachelor of arts degree in education, with a concentration
in English in 1971, her master's in education with certification
in reading in 1980, both from Western Carolina University, and
her education specialist degree in higher education from Appalachian
State in 1998. She received additional training from the Kellogg
Institute and the National Affiliation for Literacy Advance.
Through the years and the training, Ridley developed her own successful
style.
"I found reading is beyond the printed word. We read the
weather signs, we read people's expressions. But whatever we read,
there is a word behind that feeling," she said.
Her students – who span generations – all pick up on
that feeling, too, as well as the words, attributing Ridley's
honest-felt concern and caring for them as a key to their success.
And they always remember her friendly smile.
"With Sharon there were no bad days; you couldn't get down
'cause she wouldn't let you. She was always smiling, always so
encouraging," said a 62-year-old Sylva resident who completed
her GED 20 years ago with Ridley's assistance. "Every time
I see her out, she still has that same smile, is still friendly
to me and remembers me by name. I think the world of her."
Once at a state-level literacy meeting in Raleigh, Ridley's supervisor,
Ann Deitz, introduced her "as the best GED instructor in
the state."
Model programs, literacy councils and regional consortiums Ridley
developed have been used as prototypes throughout the state.
"There was never any end to what direction my job would take
me; that's why I was always so interested," said Ridley,
whose titles and duties varied throughout her career with four
different presidents at SCC.
But the one thing that never varied was her commitment to the
students.
"The best thing about my job has been the students,"
she said, except for one, and that was her own dad, Lloyd Cowan.
"When I became manager of the local Belk Department Store,
Sharon insisted that I take a refresher night course in business
math," her dad recalled.
"Sharon got to talking about the operational breakdown of
fractions to the lowest common denominator, and I decided that
first night that I could do without the new, simpler, easier modern
math, so I walked out and never went back," Cowan said.
Despite her dad's walkout, Ridley continued to teach.
Now, in her new career of retirement, she is leaving her options
open.
"I'm spending more time outdoors, working in the yard –
I bought a gazebo – and taking the grandkids camping,"
said Ridley, who along with husband Claude, has three children,
Adrian, Andrea and Valerie, and five grandchildren.
This lady of leisure said, "I am re-acquainting myself with
what I had to leave behind every morning."
Oh, yes, don't forget the reading.
"I have such a love of literature, and now that I have time
I think I will go back and reread the classics," said Ridley,
who spent a lifetime helping others read.
International Literacy Day, observed Sept. 8 and at events throughout
this week, focuses attention on worldwide literacy issues and
needs.
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