Columbia Academy is saying goodbye to three faculty members who have long been key cogs in the machine as they retire from the Marion County private school.
Jane Middleton, who has been chosen to be a STAR Teacher 10 times, has taught at Columbia Academy for approximately 42 years. She taught all honors math classes the past 12 years but taught biology and general math prior as well.
Middleton said she’s going to miss the students the most, and they are the reason she enjoyed teaching. She also enjoyed how much CA is a great, big family.
“I’ll miss that, too, because everybody is close. It’s small enough where you can have a good relationship and know everybody,” she said.
CA librarian Amber Mattox said Middleton is one of the main matriarchs of Columbia Academy.
“You won’t find anyone who loves their school as much as Jane loves CA,” she said.
Middleton is the wife of Larry Middleton and has a son, Drew Middleton. She is the mother-in-law to Whitney Middleton and has three grandchildren: Russ, Meg and Ramsey.
Vicky Lawrence has been an English and fine arts teacher at Columbia Academy for four years but has taught for 35 years total. She said she’s going to miss the interaction with the students the most and has missed them so much since school was canceled because of COVID-19.
“I’d so much rather be in a classroom with a class full of kids right now,” she said. “I’ll miss seeing the children and also the camaraderie among the teachers. I’ve enjoyed my experience.”
Lawrence loved the friendly and supportive atmosphere at CA. During her first year at the school, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she said the faculty was really understanding and compassionate during her fight.
Lawrence is married to John Lawrence and the mother to Dustin, Miranda, Nicholas, Isaac and Emily.
Becky Fortenberry spent 15 years as an assistant teacher before transitioning into an office role where she was responsible for attendance and records. She had worked at a clinic before starting at CA, but when her children were small she wanted to be off when they were off. She said the opportunity to work for CA just kind of fell into her lap and was a total accident, but she’s really glad it did.
“I’m going to miss the people I work with and the kids,” she said. “I will miss the kids but mainly the people I work with because we all work together to get things accomplished in the office. I work close with Ginny (Kemp) and Ms. Angie (Burkett) at the end of the year with vespers, graduation, awards day and special events. We just really have each other’s back getting things accomplished.”
Fortenberry said she’s really going to miss being a part of vespers because it’s a beautiful tradition. Vespers is a church service where seniors hand down lit candles to the junior class, marking when they officially become seniors.
Fortenberry is married to Greg Fortenberry and is the mother to Brittany Johnson and Wesley Fortenberry. She also has two grandchildren, Emma and Major.
