Teacher fondly remembered

By Howell Dennis
NEWS EDITOR

CROWLEY – Most students don’t remember all the teachers they had throughout the years. Either they didn’t do enough to keep their attention or the students just found their teaching style to be uninteresting.
If the response that has been received at the Post-Signal is any indication, Linda King Hamilton was a teacher, a coach, and a mentor that the students of Crowley Middle School will never forget.
Funeral services for Hamilton were held yesterday after she passed away last week.
“My mother was really something,” said her son James King Friday afternoon. “All the students knew and loved her. She was fair but she was firm.”
Of Hamilton’s four children (Adele, James, Gretchen, and Conrad), three of them went to Crowley Middle School and learned under her.
For those thinking that she may have taken it easier on her children than the other students, King was quick to set the record straight.
“The rules of the school system didn’t apply to us,” laughed King. “Once I tried to change a grade on my report card and my mother caught onto it immediately. The principal knew he didn’t even have to punish me because mom would take care of it with her own style of discipline.”
Hamilton, known as Ms. King as well as Ms. Linda before she married nine years ago, began her career in public service in the early 70’s by founding the Southeastern Louisiana chapter of the Jaycee Janes and she served as the club’s first president. Her career as a teacher spanned from 1980-2006. From 2003-2006 she taught home schooled students.
However, it was her time at Crowley Middle School that people remember her for.
“I’m not sure if she ever won “Teacher of the Year” but it seemed as though it was always between her and Antoinette Pete,” said King. “She taught History and Louisiana History and for the most part the students took to her style of teaching really well.”
However, there were times when Hamilton had to dish out some discipline.
“You have to understand that when she taught corporal punishment was still a big part of school discipline,” said King. “Once there was a kid who kept cutting up and mom literally grabbed him and shoved him into a locker and wouldn’t let him out until he promised to behave. She could be a tough lady when she needed to.”
“One student couldn’t sit still and she took away his desk and made him sit on the floor,” said her daughter Adele Dennison. “It sounds tough but she would only do things like that to her favorite students.”
“I didn’t go to school at Crowley Middle, but I am constantly running into people who tell me that my mother was their favorite teacher,” Dennison added.
Both Dennison and King were quick to point out the extra time that Hamilton spent with her students.
“She would sometimes stay after class to console a girl who had broken up with her boyfriend and things like that,” Dennison said. “She really went above and beyond for her students.”
Aside from teaching History, Hamilton spent time as a sponsor for the pep squad and the girl’s basketball coach.
“She would even have swimming parties for her students back when things like that weren’t frowned upon,” said King. “The kids just simply loved her.”
One thing is for certain, teachers like Hamilton who do so much to help their students with their studies and their outside activities are very rare or simply don’t exist anymore.
Judging by the number of lives she touched, citizens of Crowley from a wide age range will always remember her and the impact she had on their education and formative years.
However, she will probably be remembered most for what being what came naturally to her - a teacher.