Anne Hunt "retires," June, 2005

She begged people not to make a big deal out of it, but people thought it was not appropriate that a great teacher should be allowed to wander offstage in silence. One thing that happened was that some of the people who'd had children in her kindergarten tipped off the Daily Gleaner, which gave the story an entire front page of the "Balance" section.

Another was that the staff at Park Street organized a riverboat excursion for the evening of June 23. The weather was stunning and there was one almost equally stunning surprise; the Bel Canto Singers appeared out of the gift shop and sang a specially adapted version of "How Can I Keep From Singing," as a sendoff. Among the gifts from the staff was a Rowan tree, which arrived on the Ridge the following week and was duly esconced on the front lawn.

The parents who had tipped off the Gleaner did so in the course of organizing a celebration for June 26. They plastered the school and the surrounding area with posters and contacted all sorts of people to invite them. On Saturday night the Wyatts arrived. On Sunday afternoon we all went to the celebration of her career at the Johnston Avenue Senior Centre.

Anne's best response to the "what are you going to do now that you're retired?" question: "Pee whenever I want."


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