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The Queen of Foster Elementary

The Queen of Foster Elementary
Posted on 09/27/2018
Foster Elementary paraprofessional Evelyn Geiser double-checks a classroom handout before laminating it in the school’s workroom.She doesn’t have a tiara or carry a scepter, but Evelyn Geiser is known by many as The Queen of Foster Elementary. To others, she’s Miss Evelyn, and a wave and a smile or a hug are always part of her daily routine. Evelyn has been a part of the Foster Family, since 1967. That’s 51 years. For most of that time, she was a second-grade paraprofessional. In 2000, however, Geiser took a yearlong break from education to care for her ailing mother.

“When she passed, the principal asked me if I would come back and I said I would,” she said
Since then, she’s stayed close to her workroom, where she’s one of the few people at Foster that still knows how to keep the laminator machine running.

“She’s like a magical little elf or something,” said Principal Leigh Heister. “You leave something on her desk at night, you say you need however many copies by this time the next day, or whenever, and then poof they’re in your box even before you ask for them.”

The work is what keeps Geiser going.

“I enjoy coming here and if I didn’t, I think I would go bonkers,” she said. “I look forward to coming to school. I really do. My husband passed away five years ago, so yeah, what else would I do but be by myself?”

Geiser has seen a lot of changes during her half-century of service to Foster.

“Computers. Very much so. The kids know a lot more about the computers than I do. The changes in school is a lot of the technologies and the kids are a lot smarter than when I started.”

It’s when she thinks of all those kids that have passed through Foster’s doors that it really hits her.

“It amazes me because now I’m sure some of them are mothers, fathers, maybe even grandmas,” she said.

“Yes, her heart is here. She does this, not for the money, she does this because she loves giving back and because she loves being able to be a part of the Foster Community and we’re so grateful to have her,” said Heister.

And just how long will the reign of Foster’s Queen last?

“I’ve always told, because people have asked me that, and I said I am going to stay here until they fire me or I drop over dead,” she said because she enjoys it that much.

See the JPS-TV version of this story here or below.

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