'There's nothing else I could remember wanting to do'

The oldest of five siblings, Marjorie Monahan used to pretend to be a teacher as a child, checking if her siblings had their imaginary tests signed. “There’s nothing else I could remember wanting to do,” Monahan said of becoming an educator.
After 20-plus years in the Malverne School District, Monahan, 65, retired on Oct. 15.
Monahan, a North Lynbrook resident who has lived in Malverne and sent her four sons to Malverne schools, taught primarily at the Maurice W. Downing School. She also taught at the Davis Avenue School, filling in for half a year in 1997 as a seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish teacher.
Since 2002, Monahan has taught elementary school and kindergarten classes, a level that she said always resonated with her.
“I always felt like a could relate to little kids,” Monahan said. “Having four of my own, I was home when they were little, so I had firsthand experience on how to engage children.”

This experience, she said, guided her philosophy as a teacher, which focused on enriching the experience and wellbeing of her students. “To have kids feel good about themselves, feel challenged to reach their potential, discovering and seeing things in a new light, to be happy,” this was what she strived for as a teacher, she said.
“She had such a way of connecting with students and making them each feel special,” said Jeri Charles, a longtime friend of the retired teacher. “She made her students feel accepted and loved and helped them reach their full potential,” Charles, a resident of Lynbrook whose children attended Malverne schools with Monahan’s children, added.
Monahan’s favorite part of the job was when her former students, once young children, saw her again as adults and told her, “You were my favorite teacher.”
“The kids had such an affinity for her,” Charles said, adding that she witnessed many of the teacher’s past students approach her to say hello and catch up years later in the community. Charles added that Monahan remembered her students and would make note of their progression through middle school and high school.
“We’re really substitute parents for a good chunk of their lives,” Monahan said of the close bond she has formed with students over the years.
Now that she is retired, Monahan plans to relax by traveling out of state to visit grandchildren, vacationing overseas, exercising more often and joining a book club.
“I’ve never been bored a day in my life, and I don’t plan on being bored now,” Monahan said.