The Two D's That Make a Difference

After 30 years in the classroom, retired Switzerland County teacher Doris Eads still believes the greatest lessons begin with caring for children.

When Doris Eads talks about her 30 years in education, she doesn’t begin with lesson plans, textbooks or report cards. She begins with children. She remembers second graders running across the playground asking her to tie their shoes, visiting families in their homes when parents couldn’t make it to school, and former students recognizing her decades later to share how one teacher helped shape the course of their lives.

At 91 years old, Eads has been retired for nearly three decades, but her passion for teaching is as strong as ever.

“You were there for the kids,” she said. “You weren’t there for anything special for yourself. You were there because they needed you.”

A Dream Worth Working For

Eads grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky, as one of 10 children. Money was scarce, but she knew from an early age that she wanted to become a teacher.

“I never have ever wished that I had done anything except teach,” she said. “That’s what I always wanted.”

After graduating from high school, she attended Union College before earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and later her master’s degree from Purdue University. The journey wasn’t easy. After marrying and starting a family, she worked nearly 10 years in an accounting office, carefully saving money so she could return to college and finish her education.

“When you want something badly enough,” she said, “you do it.”

Her determination paid off. Her teaching license qualified her to teach students in any grade from first through eighth, something that was uncommon at the time, and that flexibility eventually allowed her to teach every elementary grade from first through sixth.

Finding Home in Switzerland County

Early in her career, Eads taught in Cincinnati before moving her family to Switzerland County in search of a quieter, safer place to raise her children. The move meant leaving behind a higher-paying teaching position, but it was a decision she never regretted.

“We made the move for the kids,” she said.

She began teaching at Jefferson-Craig Elementary before later serving at Pleasant Elementary, where she accepted an unusual role as both principal and classroom teacher. While managing the daily operations of the school, she also taught combined fifth- and sixth-grade classes with more than 40 students.

“It was quite a hard thing,” she recalled with a smile.

Later, she returned to Jefferson-Craig, where she continued teaching until retiring in 1997 after a 30-year career. Along the way, Switzerland County became much more than the place she worked.

“I can sit out on that porch, and it’s just the calmness and the quietness,” she said of the farm her family has called home for more than 50 years. “I love living here. This is the place that I was meant to be.”

Seeing Every Child

Whether she was teaching second graders or sixth graders, Eads believed every child deserved to feel seen.

When she had a second-grade classroom with 42 students packed wall-to-wall, she knew individual attention would be difficult, so she created her own solution. Older fifth- and sixth-grade students came into her classroom to read with younger children, practice math facts and encourage them while she worked with small groups.

“I brought in a lot of different kinds of programs,” she said.

She also tutored students before school, stayed after school when needed and wasn’t afraid to visit families at home if parents couldn’t make it to school.

“If your mom had eight or ten children and couldn’t come to school,” she said, “then you made time to go to her.”

Her goal wasn’t simply to teach reading, writing and math.

“I tried to look at what they needed.”

That philosophy extended beyond academics. She wanted school to be a place where children felt welcomed, encouraged and excited to learn.

“When they saw that you could do things in school that were fun and you still learned,” she said, “they came.”

The Two D’s

Toward the end of each school year, Eads shared one lesson that many of her students still remember today. She would tell them they could accomplish anything in life if they graduated with two D’s.

The students always looked confused. “D’s, Mrs. E? Those aren’t good.” She would smile before explaining. “The two D’s are desire and determination.”

“You can go to college and do anything you want to if you have the desire and the determination.”

Those words weren’t just something she taught—they were how she lived.

Years later, former students have stopped her in restaurants, doctor’s offices and stores simply to say thank you. One former student, now working in a dermatologist’s office, told Eads something she has never forgotten.

“You are the inspiration that made me want to go on and do something better for myself.”

“I look at these kids now,” she said, “and I see them owning businesses, serving their communities and raising families. I’m so proud of them.”

Advice for a New School Year

As another school year begins, Eads knows classrooms look much different than they did when she retired. Technology has changed how teachers teach and how students learn, but she believes the most important part of education hasn’t changed.

Her advice to teachers is simple. “Relax,” she said. “Make it fun. Make them want to be in school.”

Children, she believes, learn best when they know someone truly cares about them. She also encourages families to make time for one another.

“I think families need to do more family things together,” she said. “Children have very little time to just be children anymore.”

Whether it’s riding bikes, sharing meals or simply spending time together without busy schedules getting in the way, she believes those moments matter just as much as anything learned inside a classroom.

A Life That Still Inspires

Although retirement ended her teaching career, it didn’t end her desire to serve others. She remains active in her church and regularly joins her pastor in singing at local nursing homes, bringing music and encouragement to residents throughout the area. She has also overcome tremendous personal challenges, including recovering from a stroke through the same determination she encouraged in her students.

“You can’t give up,” she said. “If you give up, you’ve lost. As long as you’re fighting, you’re a winner.”

Looking back over more than nine decades of life, Doris Eads doesn’t measure success by awards or titles.

She measures it by the lives she helped shape.

Every teacher hopes their students will remember something they learned. For Doris Eads, the lessons her students carried with them were never just reading, writing or arithmetic. They were kindness, perseverance, believing in themselves and caring for others.

And if those students remember just two things, she hopes they’re the same two lessons she taught every year: Desire and determination can take you anywhere.