[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 105 (Wednesday, September 8, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1544-E1545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN RECOGNITION OF AMELIA DODY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ROY BLUNT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 7, 2004

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a Southwest 
Missouri educator who each day stands before a class of fourth graders 
in a 110-year-old building to teach math, science, social studies and 
English. For Amelia ``Mamie'' Dody it has been a routine that began its 
58th year on August 19.
  Forty years earlier, Ms. Dody agreed to be a substitute teacher for 
two weeks and ended up staying to teach in the same classroom at Rocky 
Comfort, Missouri. ``I only came for two weeks, to help out while they 
found somebody else. They haven't found anybody yet,'' she told me with 
a smile when I visited her classroom in Rocky Comfort on August 25th to 
wish Ms. Dody well and congratulate her on a lifetime of achievement.
  Ms. Dody began her teaching career at age 16 to save enough money to 
buy her first car. She told me, ``My dad asked `How are you going to 
buy gas?' so I kept teaching. I guess

[[Page E1545]]

you could say I am still working to buy gas for the car.''
  ``She lives to teach. She loves to teach,'' says Ms. Dody's daughter 
Donna Waters, who is a principal in the same McDonald County School 
District. Ms. Dody's teaching career began in 1946 at the one room 
school at Henneman in Barry County. She taught in Wheaton, North Kansas 
City, Fairview and Granby before landing at Rocky Comfort in 1966.
  After 58 years of teaching, Ms. Dody is not only a role model to her 
students and their parents, but to other teachers. She spends her 
summers in workshops and seminars to improve her skills and better 
deliver information to those young minds she nourishes each day. In 
addition, Ms. Dody also works on her 275-acre cattle farm near Stark 
City. While she confesses to no longer brush hogging, her daughter says 
she still mends fences and works cattle.

  Rocky Comfort Principal Shandra Stephens calls Ms. Dody ``A neat 
lady. She is a person I can go to, because she is such a good sounding 
board. She has credibility and lastability.''
  Perhaps the greatest compliment to Ms. Dody's skills as a teacher are 
from parents and grandparents who want Ms. Dody to teach their 
children. Her career now spans three generations. Among the countless 
numbers of students who have passed through her classroom in Rocky 
Comfort are her two grandsons, her son-in-law, and two current members 
of the McDonald County School Board.
  There had been rumors that Ms. Dody would quit teaching last year, 
but voters in McDonald County approved the construction of a new 
elementary school in nearby Longview that will replace the Rocky 
Comfort Elementary School. That was too much for Ms. Dody to pass up. 
She returned to the classroom this year and will move into her new 
classroom when the Longview Elementary opens in January. Now, she is 
telling her colleagues she will try to stay in the classroom for two 
more years to reach her 60th year of teaching.
  Ms. Dody's spirit, dedication and love of teaching shows up every day 
in the classroom. She shares the joy of teaching with the children, 
fellow teachers and parents in her community.
  America owes much to Ms. Dody and teachers like her who have given a 
lifetime to educating our elementary school students in American 
values.

                          ____________________