Mona Nash has been a staple at Pillow Academy for the past 46 school years.
In May, however, Nash, who was Pillow’s longest-serving faculty member, retired. She wore many hats at the school before retiring as middle school counselor.
“It’s been quite a journey,” said Nash. “To see everything evolve that has makes my heart swell, because it’s been like my second home. I started at 21 and just retired at 67, so I spent over two-thirds of my life there.”
Nash, a Missouri native, moved with her family to Itta Bena after graduating high school.
“My father, brother and brother-in-law farmed. They sold land up there and bought land down here,” she said.
Nash began attending Delta State University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a minor in social studies.
“I graduated from Delta State in May, and I signed my contract with Pillow that next week,” Nash said.
Pillow Academy was established in 1966 for children in grades K-8. Each year, the school added more grades. Nash’s first year as a teacher was also the first year Pillow served grades K-12. She was hired as the physical education teacher and cheerleading sponsor — her most memorable position at the school, since she coached the Mustang cheerleaders for 19 years.
Before classes started, Nash got her feet wet at the academy in the summer by volunteering in the office while Hardeman Hall was being constructed. The middle school and high school building’s namesake, Bob Hardeman, was overseeing the project.
“I laugh about this, but I tell people the two most important things that I had to do was I had to make sure Mr. Bob Hardeman had his coffee every morning, and I had to make sure that nobody woke him up from his nap after lunch,” said Nash.
Nash said she’s seen a lot of changes at school during her 46 years at Pillow.
“When they finished the performing arts building, I walked over to look at it, and I was just standing there, and the elementary music teacher came in. She said, ‘Mona, are you OK?’ Tears were running down my face,” Nash said. “I was just thinking that I could have never imagined this building being here when I started back in ’69. To see it was emotional.”
Nash said she remembered when she first started working at the growing academy.
“We didn’t even have paved parking lots,” she said. “It would rain, and you stuck your foot out of your car, and you sank down in gumbo.”
Watching the school transform into what it is today has been an enjoyable and emotional experience for Nash.
“I truly feel blessed to have been a part of Pillow Academy for these 46 years,” she said.
After teaching physical education for a while, Nash went to the classroom, where she taught social studies, history and study skills.
“I believed in having fun in the classroom,” she said. “We learned, we behaved, and we did have some fun, too.”
One of the funniest moments Nash remembers as a teacher happened several years ago during a study hall class.
“I had gotten onto Freddy Baine,” she said. “I told him that he had to sit down and behave and be quiet. He just would not. Finally, I asked him to write me a 1,000-word paper on a theme.
“He stood there a minute. Then, he said, ‘Would it be OK if I just drew you a picture? You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.’”
With a laugh, Nash said, “I’ll never forget that.”
Many of Nash’s former students have grown up, married and had children of their own, and she’s taught some of those children, too.
Nash taught Floyd Melton III and his son and advised his daughter as the middle school counselor.
“She has been a constant presence at Pillow Academy for decades,” Melton said. “She’s taught hundreds of kids history and about life and how to be good people and has cared deeply about all of them. She will be missed.”
Ricky Belk and his wife, Debbie, were both taught by Nash, as were their three children. Nash was also Debbie’s cheer coach.
“Anybody that was ever in her class was touched by her, not only as a teacher but kind of an in-class mother,” Ricky said. “She was always very entertaining and was a huge part of Pillow Academy.”
Several of her students returned to Pillow as faculty members after graduating college.
“Mona has done everything at Pillow there is to do,” said Pillow math teacher Kathy Clark, a former student and cheerleader of Nash’s. “She’s been there through thick and thin and has been a big help to all the students who go to Pillow Academy.”
Nash has even taught a few of her first students’ grandchildren.
“I kept telling people that the first one that walks in here and says I taught their grandmother, I’m grabbing my purse and I’m gone,” Nash said jokingly. “Well, it happened before I retired. I’ve taught several grandchildren, but I said I refuse to teach great-grandchildren.”
Nash said what she will miss the most is her interactions with the students and the faculty.
“The children at Pillow, the students, have been her family and her children,” said Clare Strain Dale, Nash’s friend and a former teacher at Pillow. “She’s always had a deep love and concern in every area of their lives.”
Members of the Pillow faculty will miss Nash, too.
“I know Mona as a friend, a colleague, a counselor, a mentor, a guide and an educator,” said high school counselor Geraldine DeLoach. “She will be greatly missed at Pillow Academy and never forgotten. She genuinely cares for the many students she has taught or helped throughout the years, other faculty members, parents, the school community and Pillow Academy. Her devotion and love for Pillow Academy is unsurpassed.”
Headmaster Jay Watts said, “Pillow Academy was very fortunate to have Mona. She’s worn many hats in her 46 years, and she will certainly be missed. She touched a lot of lives in 47 years.”
Curriculum and infrastructure at Pillow have changed over the years, but Nash said the same types of students continue to come through.
“I think we have always had good, caring people,” she said. “They are concerned about other people and each other.”
She said working at Pillow has been rewarding.
“I just love it,” she said. “I love the kids. I love the interaction with them, and it’s just been the most wonderful experience, and I don’t think that I could have had any career that would have been as near as rewarding as this one.”
Although Nash is retired, the students have not seen the last of her.
“I’ll probably do some substituting,” she said. “Just so I can keep in touch with my children and my friends out there.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
