Who Was Margaret Hedrick?

Margaret Hedrick, for whom our school was named, retired in June, 1948.  She was born in a rural area near Keokuk, Iowa, where she began her teaching career.  When she retired, she had been teaching and working in schools for 55 years, 35 of them in the El Centro School system.  Our school was dedicated on February 25, 1956. Ms. Hedrick was further honored by having a school named after her while she was still living.

Below is an article by Alden C. Naud, Calexico, California, March 1945. 

Margaret Hedrick : Modern Work of a Pioneer Teacher

Fifty years of teaching-the last 30 in El Centro-is the unusual record of Miss Margaret Hedrick.  Unusual, not alone in point of tenure, but for the outstanding service rendered in schoolroom and community life, where with unfaltering vision and courage she had "followed the gleam" so steadfastly that her life has been and now is a perpetual inspiration to her pupils, fellow-teachers, and friends and acquaintances in all walks of life.

Margaret Hedrick, completing her 50th year of continuous classroom teaching, decided that her long day's work might end.  Having "come to the end of a perfect day," she planned to retire this term, against the protest of her faculty, the school board, and the community in general. However, owing to the teacher-shortage situation, she has unselfishly agreed to continue in her educational career.

Education, as she understands the term, is the harmonious development of physical, mental, and spiritual capabilities in those whom she instructs.

She began teaching in Iowa country schools, and then entered the Keokuk, Iowa School System, where she remained 14 years.

In 1912 she came to California to visit relatives and became a loyal adopted daughter.  She taught for a year in Salinas, then followed relatives to El Centro where she began her teaching in 1913.  This present year completes her 30th year of continuous teaching there.  She has taught in the McKinley, Lincoln, Wilson, and Harding buildings, and was the principal for 15 years at Wilson and McKinley.  The strain on her health caused her to give up the principal ship; for the last nine years she has worked with the 4th grade at Harding School.

In addition to her school work, Miss Hedrick has taught a Sunday School
class for 49 years.

They who are fortunate in having an intimate acquaintance with Miss
Hedrick are impressed by her standards and high ideals.  She is not only
a teacher, but a builder.  Her sincere and tireless effort toward achieving her purpose is an inspiration.  She measures her reward by the success and achievement of her hosts of former pupils.