Bonnie Mae Selanders

Selanders had a passion for teaching

"We have lost one of the grand teaching madams of this land," Jan Hoberecht, a retired Newton High School teacher said. Hoberecht was talking about a woman she refers to as "My Bonnie" -- Bonnie Selanders. Selanders, 89, died Wednesday at Presbyterian Manor in Newton. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Petersen Funeral Home, 225 N. Main. Selanders was a humanities teacher at Newton High School from 1944 until the the mid-1980s.

She taught ancient mythology, Latin and literature for more than 40 years.

"She was a Newton institution," said Steve Shields, class of 1974. "We undervalue teachers and we forget what they do. I hope she does not get forgotten soon."

Shields is now president and CEO of the Manhattan Retirement Foundation. Prior to taking the job, he lived in a number of different countries - all the while keeping Selanders as a pen pal.

"She never stopped teaching," Shield said. "She always knew more about the country than I did when I was living there. She was a very wise person. I got good life lessons from her by letters through the years."

Selanders witnessed changing eras in the Newton school system - when she started teaching, legendary basketball coaches and school administrators John Ravenscroft and Frank Lindley were on staff. The high school was downtown where Santa Fe Middle School is now.

In the 1960s, a new high school was built on 12th street, the current high school, and Selanders moved her teaching.

But with the move came some changes. Humanities classes became less of an emphasis. Shields said it was a change she didn't like.

When she retired, she was not replaced with another humanities instructor. There were students who wanted to continue studying ancient mythologies and Latin - so Selanders tutored them in her home. She also helped Hoberecht start teaching classes in the school library.

"When I decided to launch out on the humanities at NHS, Bonnie encouraged me," Hoberecht said. "She shared her materials with me and said 'Go do it.'"

She taught Hoberecht how to give museum tours, shared slide of her trips abroad and aided her however she could.

Her trips abroad - mostly to Italy and Greece - were more than vacations.

As a Fullbright Scholar she taught classes in Italy. And, according to Shields and Hoberecht, her vacation trips were always about learning.

"All of her vacations were planned around deepening her knowledge," Shields said. "I don't know how many teachers treat it as a vocation, and that was what it was for her. She enlightened the world and exposed me to what is out there."

Selanders began her career at Dighton after graduating with B.A. and B.S. degrees from the State Teachers College of Emporia State in 1937. She later received her master's degree in 1940 at the State Teachers College of Emporia State.

At Newton she taught English, Latin and humanities. She was the faculty advisor for the Latin Club.

In 1945 the Latin Club had 26 members - mostly girls - pictured in the Railroader. The club had a meal served as an exact replica of a ancient Roman meal, including table service by "slaves" and a mock gladiator battle.

"The kids would just love those kinds of things," Hoberecht said. "They ate that stuff up. She was wonderful. Bonnie believed students wanted to learn and motivated them to the maximum. Latin was not easy, mythology was not easy. But she knew the stories. She loved to bring art and music into the teaching. Students who really wanted to learn, they just ate that up."

Shields said she always went to great lengths to make her courses entertaining for students, and was able to get students to respond.

"She was able to reach the whole class," Shields said. "She would get us enthused about stuff we would have never read. We would have never read Dante's Inferno, the Illiad or any of those things ... She was herself. She was totally and completely passionate about what she was teaching."

After she retired, she started giving scholarships as well. She would give scholarships to former Newton High School students studying education and humanities in college.

Giving those scholarships was a way to support her passion for the humanities, and for teaching.

"She was the consummate teacher," Hoberecht said. "She taught forever. She was generous with her money, wanting to give scholarships. Students from Bethel College and other places have gotten her scholarship money and used it. She reached out with her own resources to advance the teaching career for young people."

She was a long-term member of First United Methodist Church in Newton and was a past member of the Kansas Education Association.

Visitation will be from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Petersen Funeral Home.