Evening star., 1941-07-13
WheotIey School Principal
To Retire After ~ Years
Miss Mortimer Is
Known as Lady
Mayor Of Northeast
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.


is retiring August 81 as principal
of the Wheatley School at Montelle
avenue and Neale street NE, afte,
AZ years Of continuous service to
the public school system of this
city, is affectionately known as "the
lady mayor Of the Northeast" te
its police precinct, its citizens and
the parents and children of this
neighborhood
Miss Mortimer began her teach
ing career in our public schools in
the first grade at Carberry School
May l, 1899.
For the past II years she has
been the administrative principal
Of the 20-room building to which
she will not return when the school
bell sounds its summons this Sep
tember.
She knows and loves the COM
munity for which she has 50 dy-
namically expended herself in the
last lap Of her long teaching career,
and 1t not only returns her affec-
ton but sounds her praises enthusi-
astically for the leadership she has
inspired.
Likes to Work Early.
While we were interviewing her,
she was as vigorously engaged in
conferences with playground assist
ants and volunteer groups of
mothers as II she were intending tc
begin her career instead of takine
the last steps to leave it behind her
Incidentally, we discovered it has
been her unvarying practice to
reach her school building at 8 am.
Chiefly" she said, because !
like to get up early and I felt
could best chart a prospective
course while was at top form my
self and least likely to have nv
perspective upon pupils, teachers,
building custodians, parents and
the community at large colored by
the fatigue and problems of the day
that was behind me-"
The eldest daughter of a mill
tary family, distinguished for the
leaders it has given the United
States Army, she has great happi-
ness In the fact that she has capped
her own career as a teacher and
organizer in the service of this
particular community.
Capt. Richard Mansfield of the
ninth precinct is enthusiastic about
the respect for and compliance
with the law, which he feels is
outstanding among the pupils of
the Wheatley School because of the
leadership of Miss Mortimer and
her teachers.
Although this school is on a busy
thoroughfare, not one of its pupils
has ever been In a trafiic accident
going to and from its classrooms OF
near the building.
This record" Miss Mortimer de-
clared, has been achieved because
OF the cooperation of our teachers
and pupils with the safety patrols OF
the District Of Columbia Motor Clut
Of the American Automobile Asso-
ciation."
Proud Of Safety Record.
She reminded, too, that the Wheat.
ley School won first prize for its
safety" float in the recent safety
patrol parade of the American Auto.
mobile Association and has numer.
GUS patrol medals to its credit TO,
observance Of trafIic regulation,
among its student body and specia,
patrols.
When Miss Mortimer came to thu
Wheatley School, what is now it.
school garden was a recently &C.
quired back lot, used as a genera
dumping ground for neighborhooc
rubbish. Today, pictures of it ano
a record of the vegetables and flow.
ers grown within its transformed
midst are used by Supt. of Schools
Frank w. Ballou TO demonstrate te
the Bureau of thesBudget and Con.
gress the value of cooperative eff
forts in school gardens as factors ir
character building and good citizen
ship.
An annual school and neighbor.
hood gala event is the garden party
for which the pupils design and
make the invitations. Neighbor.
hook back and front yards strive te
keep up, too, not with the proverbiaI
Jones but with the Wheatley Schoo
garden In neatness, floral display
and making the most of whatever
garden space is available. One Ital-
ian father in the community, whose
child was heartbroken because the
family garage took up the entire
backyard and there was no room fo,
q home garden, overcame the diff.
f1culty by making one on top of the
garage. Yon can see 1t from the
rear of the Wheatley School yard.
Former PIT. A. Head Honored.
This year the PIT. A. of the
Wheatley School memorialized the
late Mrs. Joseph N. Saunders, TO,
many years president of the District
Of Columbia Congress of Parents and
Teachers and long a friend of the
Wheatley School, by placing a me-
mortal statue to her in the garden
near the rose arbor intertwined with
the Pillar rose which had been her
gift to it.
One year when Congress failed to
make available the necessary funds
to staff the Wheatley Schools sum-
mer Fairgrounds and garden activ.
tiles for the children, the mothers
OF the neighborhood, among them
Mrs. Walter Jones, Mrs. Norman
Ward, Mrs. Martin johnson. Mrs
Alice Manning and Mrs. William j
Lee. organized themselves into vol
untary committees for the purpose
with the cooperation of Miss Nor
timer and the teachers of the build
ing. Not once did they lag in their
sef-imposed task and, as a result
the children of that community did
not make the streets their play
grounds, as they might otherwise
have done.
Another annual neighborhood in
StitutiOn at the Wheatley School