Looking back. Way back.

I bookmarked this story for a day like today, when I would need some inspiration and some perspective.

The story is a profile of a longtime Loudoun County teacher and the forty years in which she taught, from 1947-1986. Pieced together from small statements, it is still a stunning portrait of life not so long ago.

Segregation was not an issue in the 1940s and 1950s: It was a time-honored fact. "Except when you shopped at the stores, you didn't get in contact with the other race," Johnson said.

The old Douglass Elementary, still standing on Union Street, was built in 1884. It was the first school for African Americans in Loudoun with more than two rooms. In September 1947, when Johnson arrived, the two-story frame school had five rooms, two naked light bulbs in each room and one outdoor spigot. Steep wooden steps led to the entrance. Two outhouses stood at the building's rear, at the edge of the white people's Union Cemetery.

The contrast between the Loudoun Ms. Johnson describes and the one we have now is staggering. But there is a point of continuity that made me smile:

Johnson's legacy continues through her daughter Kaye Hale, a teacher and reading specialist in Loudoun public schools since 1979.

Leesburg Teacher's Career Spanned Two Eras