Elkhart Teacher Rainey Retiring After 30 Years

By Cheril Vernon

Messenger Copy Editor

ELKHART – When Pat Rainey graduated from The University of Houston with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1970, she didn’t have plans to become an art teacher.

It wasn’t until she was 41 years old – 18 years after she graduated from college the first time – that she decided to go back to school and become a teacher.

Later this month, Rainey will retire from teaching for 30 years at Elkhart Independent School District when the 2020-21 school year ends. Rainey is well known for her annual art show that showcases the talents of Elkhart ISD’s elementary and intermediate school students.

“My college was kind of a journey. It started at The University of Texas in 1966.  I loved it, but I got married, and my husband’s job was in Houston, so I graduated from The University of Houston,” Rainey said. 

After college, she used her artistic skills to work in the advertising and commercial art industry. Her jobs included doing paste-up work for Texas Art Supply’s magazine. She also worked on Bill Robert’s Key Magazine, which at the time was available at bus and train depots to promote local events and restaurants.

“While working there, I started working on a society magazine called the Texas Spectator. I actually got to do four covers for them. It was a well known magazine around Houston,” Rainey said.

She also worked for a small magazine called Texas Outdoor Guide, working as art director and office manager.

“It was the ‘70s. I loved the work, but I did not like the culture,” Rainey said.

She and her husband started working on building their own house in Spring, and eventually Rainey stayed home to be a housewife and work on their house. Their daughter was born in 1977, and in 1979 they moved to Pineville, La., where they lived for four and a half years.

When they moved to the Denton area in Aubrey, Texas in 1984 for her husband’s job, Rainey became interested in education.

“I don’t think I would have taught if we hadn’t moved there. That was where I started volunteering at the school when our daughter entered kindergarten. They elected me president of the PTA and I started a reading program where volunteers would come in and read with kids – those who didn’t have the opportunity at home to read with an adult – and that pushed me toward the education route,” Rainey said.

When her husband Bill Rainey was ready to retire from IBM in 1990, his company offered to provide him or his spouse the opportunity to go back to college.

“So they paid for my teacher’s certification. The University of North Texas in Denton was right there. I’m really glad I got to go there, because at that time the (student) teachers had to teach in public schools for two weeks out of the year. They weren’t just in an ivory tower, they actually had a better chance to see what it was like to teach,” Rainey said.

After she graduated with her teaching degree, the Raineys moved back to East Texas – where they both had roots.  

“He retired before I could do my student teaching, so we moved down here. I did my student teaching at Westwood Intermediate,” Rainey said.

After substitute teaching a few places in Anderson County – Rainey knew she wanted to work at Elkhart ISD.

“I love it here. Everyone is so helpful. I have spent all of my 30 years here. It’s been a wonderful place to work. We really do have a good group of teachers and they are here for the kids,” Rainey said.

For the first 12 years, Rainey worked as a self-contained fifth grade teacher. For the past 19 years, she has served as an art teacher (art specialist) for grades Pre-K to fifth grade.

When asked if it feels like it has been 30 years, Rainey laughed.

“Some days feel like 30 years,” she joked. “My daughter was in eighth grade when we moved here. Now my grandson is in the seventh grade. It’s been a whole journey here,” she said.

In fact, she now has taught the grandchildren of some of her original students.

When asked about some of the favorite parts of her job, Rainey said the Pre-K students are among her favorites.

“The Pre-Kers are a delight. Everything is special to them because they haven’t been in school all that long. When people come to the art show and see the ‘Pre-Kers’ work they will always tell me that I drew the artwork for them and colored it for them. And I say ‘no, I don’t have time to draw 600 things for these kids,’” Rainey said.

Something that has helped Rainey over the years as an art teacher was a book she had found during a workshop.

“When whole language was a big thing, I found this book that helped children with drawing. I knew how to draw, but I was really searching for a way to help the young ones especially. I thought it sounded kinda hokey, but I am going to try it. It’s really been a life saver,” Rainey recalled.

It starts with telling the kids they have a pointer finger, always drawing with a crayon or marker.

“We never erase. If we erased in here I’d still have somebody not finished from the very first time I taught,” Rainey laughed. “So that was a lifesaving tip right there.”

With “magic drawing crayons” Rainey helped young art students in Pre-K and Kindergarten learn how to draw.

“We start with the eye. It gives them a starting point. They will say I can’t draw that. I’ll say ‘that hurts my ears. Don’t say that word. Say I’m having trouble or I think I might have trouble, but we don’t say we can’t.’ So when you start with the eye, no matter if it’s an animal or person they are drawing, that gives them a starting point and from there they can hook to it or judge where to put it.”

Another lesson she learned in teaching is that if children don’t learn how to draw realistically enough to satisfy themselves, they give up and say they can’t draw.

“So it’s very important to me to emphasize that part because unless you are drawing on an objective or abstract, that’s really the basis of drawing. So we draw a lot and we use guided drawing. I show them examples. There was a time in art education when they were saying don’t show examples because it will not make them be creative. But some of them need that. They don’t have that skill yet as to take your words and make it look like it,” Rainey said.

Art gives kids another outlet to succeed other than academics and sports.

“Not every kid is an athlete. Not every kid excels in academics. Art gives them another outlet. What does you the most good is to see somebody who may not do very well in class, but they come in art class and they do something spectacular and the kids recognize it. That builds them up and gives them a way to excel,” Rainey said. “The kids need a creative outlet anyway. The more they can create, the better student they can become. It’s actually all problem solving, which is a big buzz word in education. Every time you draw you are solving a problem. You are asking yourself questions and giving yourself good answers.”

Over the years, Rainey has seen many students excel in art, several becoming art teachers or working in art fields.

Rainey also reminds students that the principles they learn in art can help them in other areas or careers.

“I tell the kids you may not want to become a fine artist, but everything you learn here is about putting things together along with all of the elements and principles,” Rainey said. “I tell them when you wake up in the morning and open your eyes, you are going to be looking at something that was designed by an artist. You see the ceiling and the paint color that was designed by an artist. The window and shades with curtains over them – an artist designed that. The pajamas you wear were designed by an artist. The car you get into was designed by an artist.”

When asked if she had seen issues like COVID-19 affect education in general so hard in her 30 years – Rainey said no.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s been hard with the COVID thing. It delayed everything, not just academics, but the time to practice their art. But they are doing a good job with the time they have,” Rainey said, noting she had to do video class lessons with a video introduction and then a power point presentation with guided drawings.

As a class of third grade students came in during the end of the interview, students raised their hands to express how much they would miss their art teacher when she retires this month.

One kid said, “I’ve known you since Pre-K and you are a really good art teacher. You’ve taught me all I know about art.” Another kid said “We are really going to miss you.”

When asked why they enjoy Mrs. Rainey, the kids pointed to her sense of humor.

“She’s funny. She says ‘cheese and crackers’ a lot,” a third-grade girl said.

“Don’t make me say pickled feet and persimmons,” Mrs. Rainey joked with the students. Apparently, that’s another phrase they are used to hearing. She then demonstrated how the children have “eyes” on their knee caps. As she traveled around the room, the kids had to follow her with their whole bodies, by turning their knees wherever she went so that she could keep their attention focused on her.

Some other interesting things about Rainey include her first “artwork” as a child.

“My first artwork I drew on penny brown bags from my grandmother’s Red Wine Store in Tucker. The bag would hold one cookie, so my grandmother would let me draw on those,” Rainey recalled. “The store was located right across from old Green Bay school.”

Rainey spent the first years of her life in Tucker and moved to Palestine when she was 6 years old. She was born at the Palestine Sanitarium – which was the only hospital at the time in Palestine. She is a graduate of Palestine High School.

When she first began working for Elkhart ISD, she played Ouiser in a “Steel Magnolias” play organized by the drama department to raise money for the DARE program.

“I couldn’t walk around Palestine without somebody asking me if I was the woman in the green hat!” Rainey joked.

After she retires, Rainey has lots of plans for travel and her art studio.

“We have really been missing our vacations, but we hope to get back on the road soon. We traveled or have driven to all 48 contiguous states. Close to three years ago we took a cruise to Alaska so we have every state but Hawaii. My daughter says she has it planned for when the grandson graduates, that will be their significant anniversary and maybe we’ll go to Hawaii and get that one crossed off.”

In the past, if the family car left the driveway in the summertime, it would head to the Grand Canyon, Rainey joked.

“I think my husband would have lived there if he could have. We’ve ridden the mules twice. We rode the first time a half day and then went back the next year and spent the night.”

Rainey’s husband Bill passed away in 2013. They have one daughter and son-in-law, Natalie and Michael Thompson, and a grandson, Nate. 

“I just recently got to build my studio. I’ve had private students for several years. When COVID hit, most of that went away. I’ve had one adult student for about 5 years. I did a homeschool group for awhile. And then I had two others that were one child at a time. That’s what I am planning to do,” Rainey explained.

She also hopes to do summer art camps starting in the future, possibly starting in summer 2022.