Barbara Archibald stands in front of Clarke Central High School, where she frequently serves as a substitute teacher. “I’ve really had a great career and I love working with children,” Archibald said.
By FLYNNE COLLINS – Staff Writer
Barbara Archibald reflects on her journey to becoming a teacher.
She lived in a house that has since burned down on a long dirt road. There was nothing around but trees, woods and a lake.
“My Daddy was a farmer so there was some farmland and I guess the nearest house was about a half a mile,” Barbara said.
This place is now Sandy Creek Nature Center in Athens, and the trees her mother planted there still stand today.
After graduating from Burney Harris High School, her journey through education continued, even though Barbara’s father was a sharecropper and her mother had never gotten any further than a high school diploma.
She was the second youngest of nine children, and all of them were expected to strive for excellence by their parents, who were active members of their school’s Parent Teacher Association and valued education greatly.
Her journey was intertwined with that of her brother, Michael. As they grew older and pursued their dreams, they grew together. When they were little, she taught him how to smile for his school picture.
“It’s been like one journey. In a sense, you don’t know how things are going to be. But in a sense anything he has done I have been connected with it I have helped him to achieve his goals and he will help me to achieve mine,” Barbara said.
Her career was a fulfilling one. It took her from mental health counseling, to working with children at Clarke Middle School, to authoring a parenting manual.
She is Barbara Thurmond Archibald: sister, mother, wife, writer, counselor and community member. But she is better known to the students of Clarke Central High School as substitute teacher, Ms. Archibald.
