Silence trickles through the halls of Lincoln Elementary School. Another school year has come to a close for principal Larry Hart. This particular year is number 42 and it is his last one as a principal.
Hart, 68, has been the principal at Lincoln for 13 years and he has enjoyed every minute of it. His career in education has had many twists and turns but he credits his wife of 46 years, Pam, for keeping it all together. Pam has taught for 35 years and retired from full-time teaching four years ago.
“She instilled a lot of important things for me,” Hart said. “I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for her.”
The couple were sweethearts in Iola High School. They attended Emporia University, graduated in 1968 and signed contracts with Lyon County school district. Hart taught fifth grade for three months when he was drafted for the Vietnam War. He was in the Navy for three years and nine months when he received a letter from Lyon County.
“They had been tracking me all that time and offered me another contract,” Hart said. “Had I not taught school before then I would have stayed in the Navy.”
After two years at Lyon he got a call from Jefferson Elementary School and he came to interview for a position. Hart said his main objective was to come back to this area. Instead he was offered a principalship in Americus and he accepted.
Another two years later he applied for the Humboldt Elementary School principal position and accepted.
“Humboldt was fantastic,” he said. “That community is super. It’s a small school but big in many ways.”
During the 25 years at Humboldt Elementary, Hart was able to handpick his staff and become close to the people he worked with.
“I had a lot of anxiety about leaving that position,” he admits.
It was only 48 hours after retiring from Humboldt that Hart began his principalship at Lincoln.
“It was a major homecoming to me,” he said. “This is where I went to school from kindergarten through sixth grade.”
HART said he made a promise to himself that he would work only for three more years. Instead, every three years he would re-assess retirement until 13 years had passed.
“I really enjoyed our staff here,” he said. “There is a lot of success here and I can contribute that success to the teachers and the kids.”
