Twenty-nine Years and Counting: A teacher retires

Intermountain Catholic

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Junie Barry is surrounded by former students, including (clockwise from left) Zachary Mecham (on Barry's lap), Hailey Smith, Hope Feliciano, Tatiana Valdez, Alisa Gouge, Joe Cremer, Nathan Aragon, Sheila Pollock, and Tyson Rose, a junior at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

KEARNS – June "Junie" Barry has spent the last 29 years joining her students around the low tables of St. Francis Xavier Regional School’s kindergarten classroom. She’s right at home perched on a tiny chair surrounded by students who have, for almost 30 years, gotten off on the right foot, thanks to Barry.

"When I started teaching here, the school had four pre-kindergarten classes and one kindergarten class," Barry said. "I was welcomed to the school and mentored through the kindness of teacher Jerrie Conti, who for years was an institution here. We were a parish school that only taught pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. We weren’t even a part of the Catholic School system."

Today St. Francis Xavier Regional School provides pre-school classes for three-year-olds and pre-kindergarten classes for four-year-olds. Barry said, "times have changed, and I’ve tried to change with them – to remain in-tune and vibrant for my students."

For Barry, it’s always been for the students. The curriculum she created is now used on other schools in the diocesan school system.

Barry came to St. Francis Xavier Regional School in 1978 with a two-year certificate in elementary education. As she taught her students she kept educating herself, she said. "Education changes yearly. I’ve worked with a number of principals and several pastors, and I’ve enjoyed working with every one of them.

"Our grades are not looked at as just play any more. Our students are more mature than they used to be. But what they’re exposed to has changed a lot. Just the world of technology opening up to younger children has made a big difference in the classroom.

Barry’s classroom has one computer, which students use in turn. She prefers the focus of her kindergarten classroom to remain on social interaction, relationship development, hygiene, and social skills like manners and conflict resolution, respect for others and the environment.

Barry said the faculty of St. Francis Xavier school is a close-knit community who champion each other and maintain Christ-like relationships with each other and with their students. "This is a loving place, and it trickles down from the top – from Principal Nancy Essary. She’s non-political and a straight-shooter."

Barry is looking forward to traveling around the country in a motor home with her husband of 42 years, Joel.

"I’d still like to be the grandmother who comes in and reads to the students from time to time in between golf games," she said.

Before teaching at St. Francis, Barry taught at St. Patrick’s School in Butte, Mont., and as a substitute teacher in the Granite School District. In the Catholic schools, though, religion became an important added dimension.

"My students know our classroom is a sacred space, which is both basic and beautiful," she said. "Students are recognized for what makes them unique and why other students admire them. It’s good for their self-esteem."

The daughter of a teacher, Barry is the product of 12 years of Catholic education in St. Lawrence and Butte, Mont. From Girls Central Catholic High School in Butte, she went on to Western Montana College of Education in northern Montana.

"I had sister-teachers all through school. The best teacher I had was Sister George, who, in a very compassionate and frank talk, steered me away from religious life."

Instead, she married Joel, whom she’d known all her life and lived within blocks of.

Junie and Joel have two daughters and a son, ages 41, 40, and 31.

"It’s going to be tough for me to walk out the door this year," she said. "I have never ceased loving to walk in the door in the morning. My only wish is that I had the knowledge 29 years ago that I have now.

"Truly, I love and understand children. That’s what it takes. As children grow and times change, the focuses have to be different."

Barry, in turn, has learned a lot from her students. "Students have taught me how to appreciate little things. They’ve taught me unconditional love. Children come to us with no fluff. They’re genuine and honest, and they respect each other naturally."

The second of three generations of teachers, Barry said she draws often on a saying she’s borrowed from Joel: "Whatever you do, love what you’re doing."