Well-Loved Preschool Teacher In Groton Retires

Karen Rollins Young was four years old, and it was more than 30 years ago. But she still remembers Chris Theadore.

“She is the reason I decided to become a teacher,” said Young, who teaches kindergarten at Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School. “She was larger than life.”

Theadore was the second pre-kindergarten teacher hired by the Groton School District in 1973, and retires this year after 38 years.

“I just figured it out today,” said Theadore, of the students in her first class. “They’re 42 years old.”

Theadore started teaching at age 23, just out of Eastern Connecticut State University.

When she interviewed for the job, she said she was told Groton had a preschool teaching position, but there was no guarantee it would last. She took it, and taught at Eastern Point Elementary School for 28 years.

She had a log cabin play house made of real wood in her classroom; former students sometimes say they remember it. Theodore eventually had to get rid of the cabin, because it was considered a fire hazard, she said.

Young was in Theodore’s second class.

“She made learning fun. She made it magical,” Young said.

She said Theadore decorated everything in smiley faces, sang to the class about being friends, and taught her how to carry scissors safely. Young remembers playing for hours in the log house, where she shared conversations and learned to solve problems.

When Theadore got married, Young's mother and another parent planned a bridal shower for the teacher. Young helped get Theodore to the house by asking her teacher to visit her new puppies that weren't actually there.

Deb Baldwin, who worked with Theadore for seven years in the pre-k program at Eastern Point, said Theadore went above and beyond for her students and their parents.

“She just gave everything to them. Her love, her patience, her knowledge. . .Every day, a happy face for those children,” Baldwin said.

After Eastern Point, Theadore taught at Charles Barnum for six years, then went back to Eastern, then taught briefly Catherine Kolnaski Elementary before moving to Claude Chester Elementary.

She said retiring was a hard decision.  She plans to do a lot of volunteer work, and may have to substitute teach to get her “kid fix”.

“I will definitely miss the children," she said. “I should say, the families."

Former students often stop her and ask if she recognizes them. Last summer, two men in their 30s caught up with her at an art show and said hello. She recently got a letter from a former student, and ran into a mother whose three daughters attended her class.

“It’s like the icing on the cake,” Theadore said. “It’s a wonderful feeling to see these people and know that I touched their lives. That they remembered me.”