A storybook career. As a young person, my Aunt Vivian always wanted to be a teacher. She accomplished this dream and retired after 36 years in the classroom, teaching mostly 2ndand 3rd grade. Even now, she says, “I love working with the kids,” so, she works part-time as a tutor. Her former students address her as Ms. Vivian when they see her around town, even though they are now adults. She answered her calling and God has used her talents to bless a community.
Answer Your Calling
Not everyone can say their career choice is a calling like my Aunt. In 1973, Ms. Vivian married my father’s brother, Dock Locklear Jr. She completed her teacher preparation in 1974, graduating with a teaching degree from Pembroke State University, now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. That same year, she took a job teaching at Union Chapel Elementary School, where she spent her entire career. Ms. Vivian earned her Master’s degree in 1986 and served as the Assistant Principal and chairperson for school accreditation. Significantly, Ms. Vivian’s career has given her the opportunity to give back to a community that she loves.
In Ephesians 4:1, Paul explains that we should live a life worthy of the calling we have received. God has given each of us talents or gifts. Ms. Vivian is a talented educator. For my aunt, a Lumbee Indian, the opportunity to further develop her talents and attend the University of North Carolina at Pembroke was not by accident. The foundation was laid in 1887 with an Act by the State legislature establishing the Croatan Normal School for the purpose of training teachers of the Croatan race to provide public education to Croatan children in Robeson County (Lowery, 98). (The Croatans would later be given the name “Lumbee” by the State of North Carolina.) An amazing fact is that the 1887 Act named a four-member board of trustees. My great, great grandfather, James E. Dial was one of them. His name was written right into the law.
What Is a Normal School?
A “normal school” is a school created to train teachers with the additional purpose of establishing teaching standards or norms, hence the name. Most such schools are now called “teacher colleges.” With this Act, the legislature named a four-member governing board and appropriated $500 to pay for instructors (p. 98). This money would only be available to pay teachers if the Indians provided a building for the school. Reverend William (W. L.) Moore, a Waccamaw Indian from the Prospect community, led the effort to raise the additional funds to construct the facility for the school. Moore was the pastor of Prospect Methodist Church. Still in existence today, it is the largest congregation of Native American Methodists in the United States.
Two other trustees, named in the 1887 Act, were from Moore’s church: Preston Locklear and James Oxendine. To provide representation from more than one community, James E. Dial, my great, great grandfather was selected to represent the Saddletree community (p. 99). In the spring of 1888, the Croatan Indian Normal School welcomed its first class of 15 students. The school became the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, the oldest college founded by and for Native Americans in the United States.
Brand New Possibilities
Often in life, we don’t know the role that God has planned for us until after the fact. However, we need to be open and even excited about the possibilities. I love the lyrics to the TobyMac song, Edge Of My Seat:
“You got me on the edge. I am on the edge of my seat, and I can feel the wonder rushing over me. You are opening my eyes. You’re opening my eyes, Lord, to brand new possibilities.”
It is my prayer that God opens possibilities in your life, so you will answer your calling and be able to look back, like my Aunt, and say God has given me a storybook career.
Copyright © 2020 Chuck Locklear
Bibliography
Lowery, Malinda Maynor. “The Lumbee Indians: an American Struggle.” Amazon, The University of North Carolina Press, 2018, http://www.amazon.com/Lumbee-Indians-American-Struggle-Lehman/dp/1469646374.