In 1957, Dwight Eisenhower was president, "American Bandstand" premiered on TV and Juanita Foster started teaching in the midst of the struggle for civil rights.
"The schools were segregated," the Rossville Middle School teacher said. "I can remember having to go past schools because they were segregated, and I couldn't apply for positions there."
Mrs. Foster, 75, has taught in the Walker County school system for more than five decades and, although she considered retiring this year, she can't tear herself away from the profession she dreamed of since she was a young girl.
Like many in her generation, Mrs. Foster -- who was born in 1933 during the Great Depression -- believes in hard work.
"I still love it," she said. "I guess you could call me a workaholic."
NEWSMAKER
Name: Juanita Foster
Occupation: Teacher
Hometown: Chattanooga
Age: 75
Family: Married for more than 45 years, one child
Honors: Named Teacher of the year twice
The Chattanooga resident was honored Monday night for her semi-retirement along with other Walker County school retirees, but she will continue teaching special education part time next year, system spokeswoman Elaine Womack said.
Rossville Middle School principal Wanda Janeway, who has known Mrs. Foster for about 20 years, said the veteran teacher commands respect without raising her voice.
"She is very laid back," Mrs. Janeway said. "The kids love and respect her."
Mrs. Janeway said she wishes every teacher had Mrs. Foster's skills.
"If we could bottle it and sell it, that would be good," she said.
Surviving segregation
Initially, Mrs. Foster was wary of discussing her memories of the struggle for civil rights.
"I don't like to think about the bad things," she said.
Some things she recalls she said most people know from history books.
"The buses were segregated, and blacks only had one seat," she said. "There was a sign, I vividly remember the sign, 'Colored people only.'"
She remembers always having to go in the back door at schools or restaurants.
On one occasion she traveled with fellow educators -- black and white -- to Rome, Ga. When the group went for lunch, not everyone was allowed to go in the front door, she said.
"We all went in the back together," she said.
Mrs. Foster said she has a passive personality and was never the type to protest, but one time she was so "fed up" with going in the back door, she went in the front at a Chickamauga restaurant. She was served, but the waiter was visibly angry, she said. Her mother later told her she likely had put herself in danger.
The discrimination was painful, she said.
"I guess I was hurt and angered," she said. "It was just that way."
After desegregation, Mrs. Foster said, she felt a little nervous, but she also felt good.
She also never thought she would live to see a black man elected president.
"We have come a long way," she said. "(Discrimination) is still there, but we have come a long way since that time."
tackling technology
Another major change Mrs. Foster has experienced is the evolution of technology. When she began teaching, she used old-fashioned blackboards. Today she uses a Smartboard, which is a computerized board.
"I didn't have the luxury of using computers to do my attendance," she said.
She watched some of her colleagues resist the changing technology and even retire to avoid it, she said. But the woman who was born the year that Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" said she never has been afraid of technology.
"I always believe in improving my skills and moving on," she said. "That, to me, is the spice of life."
The longtime educator also said she learns as she teaches.
"I learn with the kids," she said. "They keep me young."
