The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-04-18
MISS BRENDA is A
VETERAN TEACHER
OF THE COASTLAND
After Long Career, Lives in
Quiet Retirement in Man+eo'

Mrs. brenda Midget Simpson,
who began her teaching career in
the waterbound schools of the
Coastland IS years ago, looks back
with pronounced opinions on the
changes that have transpired in
schools, and their results in half
century.
~ miss Orenda," as she was so
long known by pupils, is beloved
and interesting character. She is
never at loss for expression and
freely voices her opinions. She is
now widowed, and living in quiet
retirement in her home in Manteo.
Despite several strokes which con-
fine her to her home, at IA, she
has an excellent memory, and read
lily recounts multitude of expert
ences during long and busy life;
particularly the experiences of her
early childhood on the beaches of
the Outer Banks, where her father,
the late Capt. L. Bannister Mid
gett was keeper of lifeboat sta
ton and one of most famed of all
native lifesavers for his daring
exploits in rescuing men from ship
wreck.
When Mrs. Simpson began teach
ing in 1908, she said there was
only a three to four-months term
at a school, but by shifting to
other COMMUNITIES, she could teach
in as many as three distinct schools
in year. In those days, there was
a two-week vacation for Christmas.
State and county were paying her
only $45 a month, considered good
pay for a woman in those days,
and some schools paid only $35 a
month. The highest salary she re-
ceived was $35 month, which,
with a supplement from parents
of pupils sometimes; brought her
total monthly pay to $3.50.
Miss brenda was a dedicated
teacher; she loved her work and
she loved to do good and we must
believe it; sometimes in those days
her pay checks would be delayed
as much as two years before she
got them. But she kept right on
teaching. Many of US remember
when teachers went long months
without their pay. They had to bor-
row money to pay their board. Be-
fore the state took over the entire
school burden, teachers were too
often at the mercy of the whims
and prosperity of the local tax
payers.
Schools Were Efficient
Mrs. Simpson taught for many
years at intervals in the famous
Pea Ridge section of Washington
County. It was there she met Cecil
M. Simpson whom she married in
1925 and who died in Manteo in
1866 after 80 years of happy life.
On first going to Washington
County, Miss brenda was mere
teen-ager and began her career as
the sole teacher Of $50 pupils, some
of them grown men.
Parents of pupils back in those
days received their moneys worth
in the education of their children,
Mrs. Simpson asserts, for children
were able to read and write at the
end of their first -four months of
school. Pupils of those days did
not spend half their school day
playing and wasting time as so
many of them do today, she also
observed. She proudly states that
she always had quiet and order in
her classroom, and that on only
two occasions did she have to re-
sort to a switch for punishment.
She took the Bible with her when
she went into the school room each
day, and she depended on God, to
give her the strength and ability
to meet the challenge of her work.
She opened school each morning
with prayer and reading from
the Bible, and school was. dismiss
ed each afternoon with prayer.
MIS- 0ulpSVu HCNCA oSNChuCu
public day school, receiving school
ing under a governess hired by her
father. Before beginning to teach,
she added to her education by at
tending Louisburg College, and a
prep school under B. G. Crisp, a
teacher, lawyer and former super
intendent of Dare Schools.
Getting from her home to the
schools where, she taught was far
from easy. To get to her first
school in Washington County, she
particularly remembers having to
board the old coach ferryboat
across Albemarle Sound to Mack
eys Ferry. Then followed a To-
mile drive, usually in a farm cart
but occasionally in a buggy. Many
See MISS BRENDA, Page Sixteer
FUNERAL, FORMER RESIDENT
WILLIAM ", MIDGETT APR. 16