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Kathy Pinke-Thorson looked at all the photos on the west wall of her classroom at Bonner Elementary School. There they were, group pictures of all the students she has taught since she began teaching in Stewartville in August 1978.
"This wall of pictures is the most important thing," she said. "It's all the classes since I've been here. I say to them, 'You are my family. You belong to me for life.' They're my kids. I don't get teary at the thought of not teaching, but I get teary at the thought of my kids."
Pinke-Thorson, affectionately known as "PT," was in fourth grade when she knew she wanted to be a teacher. As a student in a very small, two-classroom grade school in Sargeant, Minn., she fell in love with her teacher...
For more on this story pick up your copy of the April 26 Stewartville STAR.