TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — One group of students from John Spring Junior High is still keeping in touch with one of their favorite teachers.
“They’re my kids forever," Norma Jean Don said.
Once a month they meet for lunch.
Even as time has passed, they still call her Ms. Don.
It all started when her former student Carmen Jimenez Sainz ran into her at a grocery store a decade ago.
Deciding to get back in touch with her former teacher, she and Ms. Don started lunching together.
That’s when Carmen thought her classmates should come too.
“I opened a page called John Spring Junior High on Facebook. And then I invited people," Jimenez Sainz said.
It grew into over a dozen former students getting monthly lunches with their favorite teacher.
“Ms. Don was my teacher as well. It just seems like yesterday. Even though it’s been a long time but Ms. Don was always near and dear to all of these students hearts," Mary Helen Santa Marina Canett said.
Now 91, Don says she’s still teaching them a thing or two.
“I love teaching. And right now I think if I wasn’t so old, I’d go back and teach some of these kids something," She said.
Her students for now are still happy to come back to class just once a month.
“Ms. Don is a gift to all of us," Jimenez Sainz said.
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Adam Klepp is a reporter for KGUN 9. At his previous station in Yuma, Adam focused on a range of local issues including the border, water rights and healthcare. He is originally from Detroit, Michigan, and attended both Loyola University Chicago and Syracuse University. Share your story ideas and important issues with Adam by emailing adam.klepp@kgun9.com or by connecting on Twitter.
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