On New Year’s Day, 2009 I wrote the following in my newspaper column: At the beginning of each New Year many of us think about what’s happened in the past year and what we want to change for the upcoming year. I got to thinking about people I’ll never forget and Edna Kofoed came to mind first. She was a kindergarten teacher for generations of children and I’m sure she made a lasting impression on many of the fresh faces she taught.

I remember a lot of things about her, but my favorite memory is this: I was a little bit of a thing (so I’m told) and I sucked my thumb. Thumb sucking was discouraged, but every day at naptime, no matter how hot it might be in the classroom, I’d ask for my blanket so I could cover my head and suck my thumb, and every day she’d say, “Are you sure you want your blanket, Robyn?” Mrs. Kofoed had some nasty tasting stuff she’d paint on thumbs to keep us from sucking, but she never painted mine. I asked her once, years later, why she didn’t paint my thumb. She said, “You were such a little thing, away from your Momma, and I didn’t have the heart to do it.”

We all have memories of special people in our lives. Like pebbles on the water, everybody sends ripples out that touch other people’s lives. Edna Kofoed has made a lot of ripples, and perhaps a few waves, in her lifetime. Most of the time we’re unaware of the impact our words or actions have on others, but here today, October 30, 2010, is a testament to the power of one woman to impact the lives of others.

Mrs. Kofoed, you have been an inspiration and joy to so many people. Tomorrow you start another New Year. The good Lord has given you the opportunity to continue to spread your own special kind of love and we’re all grateful and blessed.