SUCCESS STORY Educator kept busy schedule

She created opportunities by getting involved.
By MARY ELLEN PELLEGRINI
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
A successful life consists of many phases, said retired Warren educator Lorene Troxell. At 93 years of age, Troxell's victories span diverse moments in time.
In addition to instructing thousands of teenagers, Troxell successfully lobbied for a single-salary schedule for teachers, fought for an independent retirement system for Ohio educators, held offices in more than a dozen local organizations, and traveled.
She walked along the Great Wall of China, had an airplane trip over the Arctic Circle, a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls in Africa and a hydrofoil ride on Lake Titicaca in South America.
"I've had all these phases," said Troxell. There is 39 years of teaching, 33 years of retirement, 10 years of worldwide travel and 83 years as a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Warren, the accomplishment of which she is most proud. She identifies other phases as her retirement community living and her associations.
"I don't know why I was successful except I like to do and be with people," Troxell said.
Establishing herself
The respected math teacher began her career during the depression at a time when male teachers dominated the high school classroom. "The first year I came out of Hiram, teachers were a dime a dozen. You couldn't get a job anywhere as a woman unless you could teach home economics," said Troxell.
Determined to enter the profession, she enrolled at Kent State University for additional course work, added home economics to her certificate and landed a teaching position at Clark High School in Holmes County. The district needed a home economics/Latin teacher and Troxell's extra schooling gave her the unique combination.
"The first year, I taught in an old building with one cook stove. They didn't have any running water on the property." Home economics class was limited to textbook material, but Troxell said the country girls needed little instruction. "I don't think the girls realized at the time, they were teaching me more than I taught them," Troxell said with a laugh.
After two years in Clark, the second at a new facility with a "beautiful home-ec room," Troxell returned to the area. She became one of only two female teachers at Braceville High School (now LaBrae) when she was offered the position of Latin/home economics/math teacher.
Taking on roles
In addition to teaching responsibilities, she was the school's central treasurer, collecting money from athletic events, student fees, fundraisers and writing checks for referees and student expenses. "I was treasurer of almost everything from then on," she said. including the first four years at her present retirement community.
Another duty at Braceville involved being the female sponsor for the girls' basketball team. "In those days, the men coached, but they had to have a woman sit on the bench, ride the bus and be in the dressing room with the girls," explained Troxell. She is proud of missing only one girls' basketball game in six years at the school.
Eight years after her college graduation, a position opened up in Warren schools, Troxell's alma mater. The pay was less, but Troxell said, "there are other things in this life besides money. I took a cut and came into the Warren schools." She taught Latin for one year at East Junior High before moving on to teach math at Warren G. Harding High School.
Troxell taught arithmetic her first year at Harding. Early in her second year, a male teacher was drafted for World War II, and Troxell's subject matter changed. "Friday I was teaching arithmetic. Monday I was teaching geometry," she noted. Algebra, geometry and trigonometry were Troxell's forte for 30 years.
Petite, Troxell believed discipline came first. "I used to say to my students, 'I believe in democracy, but in the classroom I'm a dictator'," she said.
Troxell enjoyed teaching because "no two days are alike. You never knew what was going to come up during the day, which was challenging." She finds it rewarding to keep in touch with former students, many who are now retired teachers themselves.
Continuing education
In addition to classroom work, she headed Harding's math department and was president of the Warren Education Association and its predecessor, the Warren Classroom Teachers Association. Troxell also served on statewide committees for the Ohio Education Association and represented OEA at the national conventions.
Her travel phase took Troxell to all 50 states, every continent except Antarctica and most of the Canadian provinces. Her first overseas trip occurred the summer before her retirement when she spent her 60th birthday in Rome. For the next 10 years, Troxell was out of the country every year.
Many of her state visits occurred in conjunction with her OEA and NEA meetings. "Each summer I'd go to NEA conventions. Then they'd have a classroom teacher national conference for two weeks," she explained. Those conferences earned Troxell college credits beyond her master's degree from Bowling Green University, Ball State University, the University of Connecticut, Western Washington University at Bellingham and the University of Florida.
Together, these varied phases add up to countless detailed memories and "a wonderful life."