Printer Friendly

Marcie Horton: Intellect, advice from others and her
God-given talents have helped this naturally gifted woman

by Anna Jauhola • Daily News

Marcie Horton credits many people with the successes in her life, but most of all she credits God. "I give God the glory for all the help I've had, to get the jobs I did," she said. Marcie taught for nearly 50 years, 25 1/2 of which was spent at Wahpeton Middle School as an eighth grade English teacher.

Marcie said she is a "born teacher." She grew up outside Comstock, Minn., on a farm. She said her education began young, learning to read and she knew her numbers at a young age. She entered school at age 5 and almost immediately skipped to first-grade. When she took state tests in seventh-grade, her teacher felt there was no need to keep her and skipped her to eighth-grade.

Marcie was excited about skipping at the time, but looking back on it, realizes the lack of a year in seventh-grade prevented her from being proficient in geography.

"They stopped teaching geography after the seventh-grade," Marcie said. "To this day, that is a weak point for me."

Because she skipped two grades, Marcie graduated from high school at the age of 16. She started college the fall of 1937 at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. By the age of 20, Marcie graduated with English and music degrees from Concordia and with high praises from many professors at the school.

Not only did Marcie excel at her academics, she excelled greatly at music, for which she credits her mother.

"Mama taught me the piano," Marcie said. She described her mother as artistic and a talented musician. While growing up on the farm, there wasn't always time to practice the piano or participate in extracurricular activities. Marcie remembers one instance when she heard her father's voice while she practiced the piano, so she stopped. Marcie's mother entered the room and said, "You keep playing. You're going to be my musician." This memory brings tears to Marcie's eyes because her mother died young, while Marcie was still in college. "I don't think I ever thanked her," Marcie said.

Marcie's mother's artistic side showed through her talent in sewing. While in college, Marcie was asked to be a hostess at the opening of the first residence hall at Concordia. "I remember my teacher asked me to dress well," Marcie said. "And I thought, 'How am I going to do that?'" Marcie and her mother shopped in Fargo until they found "the most beautiful dress," Marcie said. However, the dress was too expensive. Marcie went home not with a dress, but material to make a dress similar to the one she saw a the store.

"My mother made the dress exactly like the one in the store, without a pattern," she said. "That was her talent."

After graduation from Concordia, Marcie took a job for one year at Barnesville, Minn. That job was nearly all-inclusive — she taught many English classes and music classes. She then took a job as an English teacher at Park Rapids, Minn. "It was like an answered prayer," she said. At the time, Marcie was dating her future husband Jim Horton, who was in the Navy. By 1943, Marcie took leave from her job in Park Rapids to travel to San Francisco to see Jim. While there, Jim asked Marcie to marry him and she stayed in San Francisco with Jim's mother and two sisters. In 1944, Jim and Marcie married and by 1945, they had their first child.

After World War II, Jim and Marcie returned to the Wahpeton-Breckenridge area and Marcie taught piano at Dwight, Doran and Kent schools. She put on fall, Christmas and spring concerts. In this position, she learned an important lesson — "Get along with the elementary teachers and parents, or you'll be sewing your own costumes."

It was a good lesson and Marcie followed it, never having to sew a costume during her time at Dwight, Doran and Kent.

Another lesson she learned quickly at these schools was to also get along with the custodians, otherwise she'd have to set up chairs and sweep the floors. This one didn't come as easily, she said. In Kent, the staff warned her the custodian had a drinking problem. For the first concert, Marcie and Jim set up chairs because the custodian was "drunker than a skunk."

The third piece of advice Marcie used throughout her time as a teacher was to take suggestions from those above her and say, "Yes sir." But, if the suggestion wasn't a good one, "do what you know works best."

In her 25 1/2 years at Wahpeton Middle School, Marcie only sent one student to the principal's office. However, she didn't believe that was necessary. Other students who acted up in class were held after school for a brief meeting. "I feel the kids being sent to the principal's office are the ones who need to be [in the classroom] every minute," Marcie said.

She gave the example of a smart, good-looking boy who picked on a less talented student who sat in front of him. Marcie told the boy to stay after school one day and gave him this piece of advice, "I want you to go home tonight and look in the mirror. You're good-looking and you're smart. Look at what God gave you and stop picking on that boy."

"I don't think he knew he was hindering the student," Marcie said. "After that, he never bothered that boy again and even helped him when he needed it."

Marcie retired from teaching in 1990. She said her God-given gifts were a blessing and that every day was a joy. Besides teaching, her second joy was music. She played the organ at Bethel Lutheran Church in Wahpeton for 62 years.

Now, at 88, Marcie lives at Twin Town Villa in Breckenridge since Jim died in 2007. Though she's retired from Bethel, her organ-playing days are not over. She received an invitation from the Rev. Mark Manning at Breckenridge Lutheran Church to play the first Sunday of each month and to play at local nursing homes every third Tuesday.

“I can’t say enough about Pastor Manning and his wife [Joyce],” Marcie said. Shortly after Marcie moved into Twin Town Villa, she received an electric piano from her son. She didn’t know how to put it all together, so the Mannings took time from their busy schedules to put it together in one evening.

She also continues to play organ for funerals at Bethel Lutheran.

"I believe you give and it comes back to you two-fold," Marcie said.

Marcie has four children, Judith, Colleen, Robert and Tim.