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BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — With instruments in the hands of students, Sister Jeannine Neumann leads the rhythm band class of first- and second-graders at St. Mary-St. Augustine Catholic School in Belleville.
Neumann, who recently turned 80, grabs her sombrero and pops it on top of her head as the children laugh in excitement as the song about a yellow sombrero comes on the cassette player she uses.
Students have a variety of instruments they play along with the song including triangles, maracas, rhythm sticks and symbols. With just a motion of her arm, Neumann directs which students to play their instruments.
Neumann has taught music and reading to Catholic school children in Belleville for 18 years. She taught at St. Mary's Catholic School and now teaches at St. Mary-St. Augustine. And she has taught primary schoolchildren for nearly six decades and doesn't plan to stop any time soon.
"As long as I can make a difference in children's lives then I keep doing it," she said.
On Friday mornings, Neumann teaches two rhythm band classes. Before the first and second-graders, she had the younger students: preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.
"It's important to her kids have the experience of music," said Sandy Baechle, principal at St. Mary-St. Augustine.
Baechle praised Neumann and her work with students. "She's an amazing person," Baechle said.
She wondered how the 80-year-old had the energy to do all she does.
"She's kind of like the Energizer bunny," Baechle joked. "She just keeps on going."
Neumann said enjoys teaching a variety of classes at St. Mary-St. Augustine. She teaches rhythm band, reading and guitar lessons. She also teaches Parish School of Religion classes at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Belleville.
After music classes on a recent Friday morning, Neumann switched roles and helped students with their reading as a reading specialist.
She worked with two kindergarten students on early reading skills. She asked the students Alex Foster and Jeremy Meister to identify the beginning or the ending letter of a word she sounded out for them.
The boys took turns identifying the letter and picking up the corresponding letter card on the table in front of them. It was easy for Alex and Jeremy to pick out common letters like s, z and r in words, but they had more trouble when Neumann asked them about words beginning or ending in y, q, x or w.
"Gosh, that's hard," Alex said at one point.
Neumann took Jeremy by the hand when he was struggling with identifying the 'n' sound at the end of a word and walked him around the circle-shaped alphabet carpet until he stepped on the letter n and recognized it as the sound he heard.
The boys seemed to get the hang of it toward the end of the 30-minute session. "You did a great job guys," Neumann told them.
Neumann then headed inside a second-grade classroom to help two students with reading as they played the game "Pairs in Pears," where you build words off other words using letter squares. Other students in the class worked in small groups using similar games as the teacher rotated around the room.
Third-grader Ethan Whoolery looked serious but content as he sat down in a small chair in the preschool room at St. Mary-St. Augustine for his one-on-one guitar lesson with Neumann.
She helped him tune his child-sized guitar before the lesson began. Then they practiced songs Ethan knew before Neumann taught him to play a new song, "We Are One In The Spirit."
She provided plenty of words of encouragement as Ethan played. "You are doing beautifully," Neumann told him. "I'm so proud of you."
At the end of the lesson, she reminded Ethan to share the new song sheets with his two sisters, who also take lessons from Neumann.
"She's really good," Ethan said of Neumann, who he started learning guitar from this summer. "She's a good teacher."
Ethan's father Charles Barbour said he's impressed with how well Ethan is doing on guitar. "He's actually doing really well," Barbour said.
When Ethan expressed interest in playing guitar, Barbour said he was supportive of his son's decision. "We thought it would be an opportunity for him to grow a little bit and experience something new," Barbour said.
Neumann not only teaches guitar lessons to children during their lunch hours at St. Mary-St. Augustine but also invites students to her Belleville home for lessons.
She does guitar lessons on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. She charges a minimal fee of $5 per half-hour lesson for her guitar students.
"I stay busy," Neumann said. "It keeps me out of trouble."
Fifteen of her guitar students play during Masses.
Growing up, Neumann said she loved to sing and played the violin, and her father would always tell her she should play an instrument the family could sing with. She learned the guitar later in life.
"Now, if he's looking down on this, he would be delighted," she said.
Neumann was born and raised in St. Louis. She attended elementary through high school at the Missouri School for the Blind. Neumann is legally blind, though she had surgery on her eyes in 1979 and saw a bird fly for the first time while in Ohio.
Neumann went to Rosati-Kain Catholic High School in St. Louis her senior year of high school to learn more about her faith and entered the convent in 1954.
She was welcomed by the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Neumann said other communities didn't want her due to her poor eyesight.
She started teaching in September 1956 and has taught ever since.
Why did she want to be a teacher? "I love children," Neumann said. And why does she continue to teach? "Same reason -- I love children," Neumann said.
She has two degrees: a bachelor's from Webster University in St. Louis and a master's degree from Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin.
She taught students throughout the United States including in Kansas, Ohio, Michigan and New Mexico.
In Michigan, Neumann served as principal of a school for three years. However, she felt a principal should be able to drive and she cannot so she went back to teaching.
She came back to Illinois 18 years ago and began teaching at St. Mary Catholic School in Belleville.
One of the best things about being in Belleville so long, Neumann said, is being able to watch the children grow up.
"It's such a joy to see these young people," she said. "Some of them are still in college, and some are married."
One of her former students Clare Behrmann, 22, of Belleville, who attended St. Mary's School, said she has many fond memories of Neumann including when she shared her story about gaining some of her eyesight back through surgery.
"I remember thinking this woman has been through so much, but she still loves life and has her faith, and she loves what she does," Behrmann said.
Neumann encouraged Behrmann's love of music. "I really did enjoy having her," Behrmann said of Neumann. "Although she was one of the stricter teachers, you could tell she really cared about her students and the success of students. She wanted kids to learn but have a good time."
Reunited
Neumann helped a once clumsy boy named Billy learn to read, write, add numbers, recite prayers and walk up and down stairs at a school in West Frankfort, Ill., in the early 1960s.
That boy is now a priest -- Monsignor Bill McGhee, 58, who serves the families of St. Augustine's Catholic Church just as Neumann does.
"She challenged you to do your best," McGhee recalled. "Sister's attitude always to make you love your Lord and grow your faith. Sister still has the same mindset. It's beautiful to see."
McGhee said Neumann was supportive when he shared his desire to become a priest. He remembered her telling him: "If God wants it, it will happen."
Neumann prepared McGhee for his first confession and first communion in 1962.
"It's wild to think that now I'm working with her preparing children for first confession and first communion," McGhee said. "It just blows your mind."
Neumann was McGhee's teacher in West Frankfort for three grades -- first, second and third.
They kept in touch over the years through Christmas cards. Both were pleased to learn they would be working together when McGhee came to Belleville in 2007.
"It's a beautiful gift to be able to be work with her at this point in life," McGhee said. "For me, she was such a foundational teacher during those early grades. It felt like with sister you got a start that set you on a solid foundation, and it carried on from there."
"It's really pleasure to be able to come back 50 years later and have this relationship we are now having," Neumann told McGhee.
"The gift to be with sister is a great gift from God. Sister pours faith into everything," McGhee said. "We are very blessed."
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ONLINE: Belleville News-Democrat, http://bit.ly/1lNqtPs
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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com
This is an Illinois Exchange story shared by the Belleville News-Democrat.
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