A real red carpet rolled to the entrance of Armstrong Elementary to welcome Marlene Fangmann for her 90th birthday, and 22nd year volunteering as a kindergarten aide.
Balloons, applause and cupcakes followed. Marlene teared up – “I’m an easy crier” – then got to work corralling kindergarteners in Carolyn Lewis’ classroom.
Marlene was volunteering in that room two decades ago when Lewis was still a teaching aide.
On Sept. 14, the kids, Lewis, Armstrong staff, three school board members and superintendent Joe Stutting cheered her service, dedication and agility.
Marlene plopped down on a kiddy-sized stool for a group picture, then popped up to work the room. Up and down, table to table. That’s the job.
“There’s no trick to it,” Marlene said. “People think you need some kind of teaching degree. All you need are loving arms.”
The arms quell classroom commotion one kid at a time, fetching supplies, handing out snacks and helping kids focus. “You got that alright, Alberto?” she asks.
It’s been the same drill three days a week since she accompanied her twin grandchildren to Armstrong in 2001. She was part of the carpool, and had two hours to kill during their preschool. “So I asked if I could stick around and volunteer.”
The rest is history, for at least 800 kids who have gone through that classroom and experienced her care and compassion.
Lewis called Marlene, “a treasure.”
“She was a volunteer for her twin grandkids when they entered kindergarten. They, of course, have since graduated, but Marlene has stuck around. The last few years, she has been with me pretty consistently, Tuesdays through Thursday mornings every week. She is an amazing lady who has helped so many Neil Armstrong children. I always tell her that when I grow up, I want to be just like her,” Lewis said.
Marlene sees little differences among the kindergarteners today.
“They still want to hug you. They still want to show you what they’ve done, how they did it. They still want to be around other kids.”
“It’s pretty much the same as personalities go; 99 percent are good as gold,” she said.
The one percent?
“Still the same. They never really learned respect, kindness and sharing. But that’s what we learn here.”
The classroom sure has changed.
Kids cluster around tables for hands-on projects. A big video board shares lesson plans, and the teacher clicks to play songs and games.
Marlene moves a laptop, so Oliver Rentmeester can see a little better. Oliver is getting chemo treatment in Iowa City, and joins class remotely. She includes him in the group discussion as he does the same work as his classmates around the table.
On this day, she did it with a tiara and a 90th birthday t-shirt.
She confesses she wasn’t entirely surprised. “Carolyn makes a big deal on my birthday every year.”
Marlene and Dale Fangmann have four children, 16 grandchildren and 17 great-grands. She offered ages, names and updates on all of them during an interview in the teacher’s lounge.
She recalled meeting Dale Jan. 30, 1950, at Melody Mill, a teen club above the Davenport bus station.
More than 40 family members celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary two years ago at Biaggi’s in Bettendorf.
“God has blessed us,” she said. “I’m so lucky Carolyn allows me to keep coming.”