After 58 years of teaching preschoolers at Coleman Head Start Center, Shirley Ann Verdell still talks about all her students as if they are her own children.
“I fell in love with the children, and they were just like mine,” Verdell said, reflecting on nearly six decades in the classroom. “I thought they were mine. Even now when they’re with me, they’re right at home, and I’m right at home.”
At 79, Verdell is preparing to retire at the end of the school year, closing a chapter she describes as “one of the best journeys” of her life.
Born in Mississippi and raised in Columbus since the age of 14, Verdell said her passion for education took root early.
“From the time I was a child, you couldn’t keep me away from school,” Verdell said. “… I just always had that ambition, I guess. A lot of my family members are teachers, and looking back, maybe that’s the reason.”
That same passion led her to Coleman Head Start in the spring of 1967. At just 19 years old, Verdell joined a small group of young teachers who hit the streets, going door to door to recruit children for the program.
“When we first started, we had to go from door to door and recruit,” Verdell said. “Even though we were teachers, we had to recruit the children, and we served all types, Black and white, because everybody at that time needed the assistance, and they got it.”
Though she didn’t yet have formal teaching credentials, the Mississippi University for Women offered classes to help Head Start teachers build their skills.
From there, Verdell earned a certificate in childhood development from the Council on Early Childhood in Washington, D.C., took additional courses at Mary Holmes College and eventually completed her bachelor’s degree at Mississippi State University.
Helping children bloom
Verdell said it was the children who kept her energized for nearly 60 years.
“Whatever they did, I did. It was fun to me … I was right in the middle of every game, every number game, every jumping game, every running game, everything they did,” Verdell said. “I was just a part of it, and I enjoyed doing it.”
More than academics, Verdell’s mission was to encourage and nurture every child who walked into her classroom.
“When they did good, or whenever they did anything, even if it wasn’t nothing but a little scribbling, I would just praise them for it,” Verdell said. “I learned that as I went on, how to build them up and encourage them. I saw children bloom and come up and come out, and that’s just one of the best things that I could see.”
Verdell’s legacy is stitched into the fabric of the Columbus community. The city council recognized her lifelong service with a proclamation during its April 1 meeting, honoring her as a trailblazer in education.
The effort to honor Verdell came from Stephanie Jones, one of Verdell’s former students at Head Start.
Stephanie and her twin brother, Ward 5 Councilman and mayoral candidate Stephen Jones, visited Coleman Head Start during an open house. When Stephanie appeared in the doorway of her old classroom, Verdell said she recognized her face immediately.
“I hadn’t seen her since she was a very small child, and that just overwhelmed me,” Verdell said. “… I could remember her face, oh yes I did. I grabbed her and held her so tight, her and Stephen, I just hugged them because they’re just both my children.”
Stephanie said the honor was long overdue.
“Think about the number of kids she’s touched and the lives she’s touched through the Head Start program,” Stephanie said. “To have people like that pour into you when you’re in kindergarten, to show us that you can be whoever you want to be, that you can be from where you are, but it doesn’t define who you’re going to be. We had to do something to just show her importance, to show her some of the love that she’s shown to all of the people in this community.”
Her son, James Verdell, said he didn’t recognize his mother’s influence in the community until after his college years.
“Upon seeing students come and go, well, you would think they were related to us,” James Verdell said. “They had such a deep affection, and they were verbalizing that affection for her like she was an auntie or a family member.”
Living for others
After much prayer and prodding from her children, Verdell has decided it is finally time to retire, though she has no plans on leaving her work with children behind.
She hopes to take a year to rest, but afterward, she plans to volunteer in local daycares and classrooms, sharing her wisdom without the burden of paperwork.
“I don’t want to rest from the children too much,” Verdell said with a laugh. “But I want to relax my mind from all this paperwork.”
As her journey with Head Start comes to a close, Verdell said she is satisfied with the way she’s lived her life pouring into others.
“I’ve lived my life, but sometimes you live it for somebody else,” Verdell said. “You don’t always live it for yourself. You want to do things that will help others, and that’s what I’ve plunged my whole life into.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
