If you attended our Story Slam themed ‘Overdue’ in January, then you will remember this awesome winning story from Doc Yoder:
After he concluded his story that evening, our emcee Luanne Sims said, “Oh, I’m crushed. I was so hoping you were going to say that you ran into her at the mall or something and explain it…. we have to make go viral and send it around! [so that we can find Mrs. McGowan]”
A few days later I received a delightful update from Doc. I’m going to let him pick up the story from there:
“After telling my story in the January Story Slam about my awful note to Mrs. McGowan at the end of my fourth grade year in Kalona, Iowa, I posted a link to it online. A friend and former 4th grade classmate named Marcus Miller who lives in the community where I grew up spent about an hour online and was able to find someone that he thought might be Mrs. McGowan by first finding her full name in old issues of the Kalona News that are now posted online. He then found a 2017 newspaper article about a shop called the Spice and Tea Exchange in Naples, Florida that was owned by a K. McGowan who was from southwest Iowa and had been a teacher for many years and was probably about the right age.
I looked up the spice and tea shop online only to find out that it had closed, so I contacted the newspaper that had run the article. I got a response the next day with a phone number which I called late at night on January 31 and left a message saying who I was, my phone number and email address, and that I was looking for my fourth grade teacher from 1967-1968 in Kalona, Iowa who was named Mrs. McGowan. I am sure that my message was not very smooth and coherent and I probably said my phone number at least three times. I felt like that fourth grade boy all over again. I got an email the next day from Mrs. McGowan's daughter saying that I had the right Mrs. McGowan, that she was pleased to hear from me, that she would contact me soon, and that the spice and tea shop was moving to a new location and would reopen soon.
Doc Yoder found Mrs. McGowan!
Mrs. McGowan and I started texting back and forth. She did remember me - her exact words were, "You hid your feelings well as I always thought you were judging me and my lack of teaching experience...you were such a bright kid and presented a challenge.", but she fortunately didn't remember the note that I had written to her. She also remembered many of my classmates and their descriptions and characteristics.
I got to have a long phone conversation with the now Ms. McGowan on February 21. She still has a wonderful sense of humor and was fun to talk to. I don't know if I'll ever get her on a Zoom call with other fourth grade classmates who would also like to talk with her, or will get to visit her in her shop in Naples; but I do know that she didn't carry the weight of my note for all of these years, and that I don't have to carry it any longer!”
How awesome is this story and how it continues to unfold?! Just this morning Doc reached out again to say that one of his classmates from fourth grade, Nancy, had found a copy of their class photos. I’ve added a frame around Doc’s photo and some hearts around Mrs. McGowan’s photo.
As a Story Slam producer it’s exciting to hear the developments after a story has been told. I believe that this demonstrates how a story can keep delivering good news. Even though we haven’t met Mrs. McGowan, I’m certain she lives in our hearts with all our favorite teachers.
Thank you to Doc for sharing his stories! Here is his follow up story at our February Slam.