July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Shoemaker ready for retirement (6/9/04)
Long-time educator stepping down
Shoemaker ready for retirement (6/9/04)
Sam Shoemaker expects June 14 will begin like any other day. The alarm will go off at 5:25 a.m., and he'll be up soon after to make some breakfast. Later, he'll stop by Handy Andy North for a cup of coffee, like he usually does. But then, he'll “head back home to all the little projects waiting for me.”
After 45 years of employment with the Jay School Corporation, Shoemaker's looking forward to his retirement — free of daily tasks and meetings and full of leisure time.
“I just want the opportunity to enjoy not having to go to a job,” Shoemaker said last week. That being said, he looks back with great pride on his years as a teacher, coach and administrator with Jay Schools and the John Jay Center for Learning.
His early student years, he admits, were another story.
Shoemaker, 66, was born in Plymouth, Ind., and his family moved to their East Union Street home in Portland when he was 7 years old. He attended the old General Shanks Elementary School on South Meridian Street, and then went on to junior high and Portland High School.
“I really enjoyed school,” he said. “I enjoyed the social part of it” — the athletics and activities more than the academics. “I was an average student,” who was very active in baseball and football. “I went dancing every weekend.
“I didn't know what I wanted to be .... I lived and enjoyed life,” he said.
His father, Ralph Shoemaker, had more definite plans in mind.
Shoemaker's sister, Donna (Bookout), was five years older and had graduated from Ball State Teachers College. “My father decided that I should go to college ... He thought I should follow in her footsteps ... My father guided me. I needed guidance,” he said.
He enrolled as a business major, but soon found it wasn't a good fit.
“Business just wasn't meant for me. Education was just it for me,” he said. “I knew what I didn't want ... I went to what I loved the most .... So I went to a (physical education) major with a history minor.
“From then on, it was uphill. Grades improved. I joined a fraternity, I was re-directed,” he said. “It was really the right move.”
He graduated in 1959 with a bachelor's of science degree in education and was eager to begin his teaching and coaching career. Lunching out with his parents at Embers restaurant in Portland one day, he ran into Bob Lewis, who was principal of Gov. I.P. Gray High School. That chance meeting turned into a job offer to teach government, U.S. and Indiana history, health and geography and to coach basketball, baseball, cross country and track.
“We didn't have a gym,” he remembers. “We practiced at Redkey from 6 to 9 at night.”
His fondest memory from his two years at Gray came in late January of 1961, when the Redbirds — coached by Shoemaker — broke a 32-game losing streak with a 62-50 win over Pleasant Mills.
That victory ended with Shoemaker getting tossed in the shower by his jubilant players.
His varsity coaching record stands at 1 win, 38 losses — something he attributes to a limited number of players and a novice coach.
“We built lots of character” during those two years, he said. “At one point, we had 13 kids (of an enrollment of 93) for B-team and varsity.”
Shoemaker's career in education was put on hold when his squadron in the Indiana Air Force National Guard, which he had joined during his senior year in high school, was activated in August of 1961.
“The first day of October, we were in uniform. We landed in France the seventh day of November. We returned from overseas in August of 1962,” after having served in Chambley, France.
Soon after, he returned to the classroom and coaching at Portland Junior High School, where he taught health, Indiana history and geography and coached B-Team football. The following year, he began dating Sue Olson, a young woman who had been a PHS cheerleader when he was coaching at Gray. They married in August of 1964, and raised three sons — Matthew, Scott and Aaron. She died from cancer in December of 2000.
Also during that time, Shoemaker earned a master's degree at Ball State University in 1966. He then went on to complete superintendent certification there — a two-year program he finished early in September of 1967 by doubling up on classes.
He was eager to take on a new challenge. “I wanted to be an administrator,” he said. “Every time a position became available, I applied for it.” The big move came in 1974, when he was appointed principal of Pennville High School for its last year before consolidation. He had a year's experience under his belt when he became assistant principal at the new Jay County High School, a post he held until 1993.
His memories of his time at JCHS are vivid and varied. “The Honors Nights were always rewarding, very rewarding,” as were the athletic successes. “The other thing I took great pride in was the building. It was in excellent, excellent condition ... We took great pride in keeping it that way ... I took great pride in taking people through the building.”
He also oversaw the building of the curriculum each year. “You could only offer so many classes. It was a real challenge ... (to) get the right teacher in the right room with the right students at the right time.”
His fondest recollections, though, are of the many people with whom he has worked over the years. He recalled returning from a three-day conference in Chicago in the late 1970s to find that his office had been cleaned out. The nameplate on the door had been covered with masking tape, which boldly declared that the space was now “storage.”
The culprits, he suspects to this day, were his co-workers Glen Bryant and the late Harold Schutz. Although not willing to own up to that prank, Bryant admitted, “We did play some awful bad jokes on him.”
The pair first got acquainted at PHS and the junior high. Their friendship grew when they both made the move to JCHS.
“Sam and I have been friends for a long, long time. I treasure him dearly,” Bryant said recently.
In 1993, Shoemaker embraced his next career challenge and became director of adult and challenge education, which was quite different from working with the younger students.
“Junior high is a very interesting age,” he recalled from his early teaching and coaching days. “They think they're grown up, but they're not .... Seventh and eighth graders are immature and lack direction.
“Adult students are mature and have that direction and drive,” he has learned from his experience in adult ed, especially at JJCL, which he joined in 2001. “I've enjoyed administering adult education a great deal” and helping create something that wasn't there just a few years ago.
“He came onto the John Jay study committee in 2000,” JJCL president Doug Inman said recently. “JJCL owes a great deal of its success to the day-to-day operations led by Sam.
“It's evident through his career that education for Jay County has been his lifelong passion. He has made a direct contribution to enhancing the quality of life in our community.”
Previously, Shoemaker said, “I always thought if you were going to get a college education, you would have to go somewhere else.” He never dreamed that students one day would be able to take college classes in Jay County.
With a sense of great satisfaction, Shoemaker is proud to report that 234 students signed up for a total of 410 classes in the learning center's spring semester. It's quite a jump from the 64 students enrolled in the fall semester of 2000.
His years in adult education have “been more rewarding in several ways,” he said. “The students are motivated, and they come here to learn. It's really fun to watch them grow. The reward in education is when the lightbulb goes on.”
Rob Weaver, the owner and general manager of WPGW in Portland, was selected as Shoemaker’s successor. He began his new duties as JJCL executive director June 1.
Just as students grow and learn, Shoemaker is eager to enjoy the next chapter in his life, which will likely be filled with golf games, traveling to visit friends and spending time with his children and grandchildren.
“That's what we're looking forward to is ‘Grandpa duty’ ... Just being around,” his son Scott said recently.
Scott, an engineer at FCC (Indiana), and his family live in Portland. His brother Matthew is principal of New Horizon Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Florida. Aaron is a doctor of pediatric and internal medicine at St. Vincent Hospital in Winchester. Shoemaker has five grandchildren and a sixth is due to arrive in December.
Describing his father as a man devoted to his close-knit family, he said, “I think he just wants to step back and see where his heart wants to take him.”[[In-content Ad]]
After 45 years of employment with the Jay School Corporation, Shoemaker's looking forward to his retirement — free of daily tasks and meetings and full of leisure time.
“I just want the opportunity to enjoy not having to go to a job,” Shoemaker said last week. That being said, he looks back with great pride on his years as a teacher, coach and administrator with Jay Schools and the John Jay Center for Learning.
His early student years, he admits, were another story.
Shoemaker, 66, was born in Plymouth, Ind., and his family moved to their East Union Street home in Portland when he was 7 years old. He attended the old General Shanks Elementary School on South Meridian Street, and then went on to junior high and Portland High School.
“I really enjoyed school,” he said. “I enjoyed the social part of it” — the athletics and activities more than the academics. “I was an average student,” who was very active in baseball and football. “I went dancing every weekend.
“I didn't know what I wanted to be .... I lived and enjoyed life,” he said.
His father, Ralph Shoemaker, had more definite plans in mind.
Shoemaker's sister, Donna (Bookout), was five years older and had graduated from Ball State Teachers College. “My father decided that I should go to college ... He thought I should follow in her footsteps ... My father guided me. I needed guidance,” he said.
He enrolled as a business major, but soon found it wasn't a good fit.
“Business just wasn't meant for me. Education was just it for me,” he said. “I knew what I didn't want ... I went to what I loved the most .... So I went to a (physical education) major with a history minor.
“From then on, it was uphill. Grades improved. I joined a fraternity, I was re-directed,” he said. “It was really the right move.”
He graduated in 1959 with a bachelor's of science degree in education and was eager to begin his teaching and coaching career. Lunching out with his parents at Embers restaurant in Portland one day, he ran into Bob Lewis, who was principal of Gov. I.P. Gray High School. That chance meeting turned into a job offer to teach government, U.S. and Indiana history, health and geography and to coach basketball, baseball, cross country and track.
“We didn't have a gym,” he remembers. “We practiced at Redkey from 6 to 9 at night.”
His fondest memory from his two years at Gray came in late January of 1961, when the Redbirds — coached by Shoemaker — broke a 32-game losing streak with a 62-50 win over Pleasant Mills.
That victory ended with Shoemaker getting tossed in the shower by his jubilant players.
His varsity coaching record stands at 1 win, 38 losses — something he attributes to a limited number of players and a novice coach.
“We built lots of character” during those two years, he said. “At one point, we had 13 kids (of an enrollment of 93) for B-team and varsity.”
Shoemaker's career in education was put on hold when his squadron in the Indiana Air Force National Guard, which he had joined during his senior year in high school, was activated in August of 1961.
“The first day of October, we were in uniform. We landed in France the seventh day of November. We returned from overseas in August of 1962,” after having served in Chambley, France.
Soon after, he returned to the classroom and coaching at Portland Junior High School, where he taught health, Indiana history and geography and coached B-Team football. The following year, he began dating Sue Olson, a young woman who had been a PHS cheerleader when he was coaching at Gray. They married in August of 1964, and raised three sons — Matthew, Scott and Aaron. She died from cancer in December of 2000.
Also during that time, Shoemaker earned a master's degree at Ball State University in 1966. He then went on to complete superintendent certification there — a two-year program he finished early in September of 1967 by doubling up on classes.
He was eager to take on a new challenge. “I wanted to be an administrator,” he said. “Every time a position became available, I applied for it.” The big move came in 1974, when he was appointed principal of Pennville High School for its last year before consolidation. He had a year's experience under his belt when he became assistant principal at the new Jay County High School, a post he held until 1993.
His memories of his time at JCHS are vivid and varied. “The Honors Nights were always rewarding, very rewarding,” as were the athletic successes. “The other thing I took great pride in was the building. It was in excellent, excellent condition ... We took great pride in keeping it that way ... I took great pride in taking people through the building.”
He also oversaw the building of the curriculum each year. “You could only offer so many classes. It was a real challenge ... (to) get the right teacher in the right room with the right students at the right time.”
His fondest recollections, though, are of the many people with whom he has worked over the years. He recalled returning from a three-day conference in Chicago in the late 1970s to find that his office had been cleaned out. The nameplate on the door had been covered with masking tape, which boldly declared that the space was now “storage.”
The culprits, he suspects to this day, were his co-workers Glen Bryant and the late Harold Schutz. Although not willing to own up to that prank, Bryant admitted, “We did play some awful bad jokes on him.”
The pair first got acquainted at PHS and the junior high. Their friendship grew when they both made the move to JCHS.
“Sam and I have been friends for a long, long time. I treasure him dearly,” Bryant said recently.
In 1993, Shoemaker embraced his next career challenge and became director of adult and challenge education, which was quite different from working with the younger students.
“Junior high is a very interesting age,” he recalled from his early teaching and coaching days. “They think they're grown up, but they're not .... Seventh and eighth graders are immature and lack direction.
“Adult students are mature and have that direction and drive,” he has learned from his experience in adult ed, especially at JJCL, which he joined in 2001. “I've enjoyed administering adult education a great deal” and helping create something that wasn't there just a few years ago.
“He came onto the John Jay study committee in 2000,” JJCL president Doug Inman said recently. “JJCL owes a great deal of its success to the day-to-day operations led by Sam.
“It's evident through his career that education for Jay County has been his lifelong passion. He has made a direct contribution to enhancing the quality of life in our community.”
Previously, Shoemaker said, “I always thought if you were going to get a college education, you would have to go somewhere else.” He never dreamed that students one day would be able to take college classes in Jay County.
With a sense of great satisfaction, Shoemaker is proud to report that 234 students signed up for a total of 410 classes in the learning center's spring semester. It's quite a jump from the 64 students enrolled in the fall semester of 2000.
His years in adult education have “been more rewarding in several ways,” he said. “The students are motivated, and they come here to learn. It's really fun to watch them grow. The reward in education is when the lightbulb goes on.”
Rob Weaver, the owner and general manager of WPGW in Portland, was selected as Shoemaker’s successor. He began his new duties as JJCL executive director June 1.
Just as students grow and learn, Shoemaker is eager to enjoy the next chapter in his life, which will likely be filled with golf games, traveling to visit friends and spending time with his children and grandchildren.
“That's what we're looking forward to is ‘Grandpa duty’ ... Just being around,” his son Scott said recently.
Scott, an engineer at FCC (Indiana), and his family live in Portland. His brother Matthew is principal of New Horizon Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Florida. Aaron is a doctor of pediatric and internal medicine at St. Vincent Hospital in Winchester. Shoemaker has five grandchildren and a sixth is due to arrive in December.
Describing his father as a man devoted to his close-knit family, he said, “I think he just wants to step back and see where his heart wants to take him.”[[In-content Ad]]
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