If the legacy of a teacher lives on in the students she has taught, then Shelly Greer’s contribution to education will have a lasting impact that will resonate through generations of teachers and children.
A visionary educator whose dedication to students showed in her hard work and exuberance, Shelly Greer founded the Saratoga School Family Learning Center in Stanwood in 2004.
Shelly Greer died Aug. 7 after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was 57.
“We cannot express the profound loss of our founder and mentor of Saratoga School,” said Steve Jenkins in a written eulogy. “Shelly was a visionary who provided so many families an alternative to learning.”
Shelly Greer’s journey as a teacher began under extraordinary circumstances. After teaching in Bellingham at Meridian Elementary, Shelly and her husband Terry decided to join the Peace Corps in 1973 and for two years they spent their time training teachers in a remote atoll called Woleai in Micronesia. The remote assignment was especially difficult for the 33 people assigned to the area, and after two years only three remained.
Two of those with staying power were Shelly and Terry Greer.
“We never had any qualms about spending two years overseas in a Third World country,” Terry Greer said. “It was the most romantic, yet hardest assignment in the Peace Corps.”
During their time in Woleai, the young married couple were adopted by the people in the village. After a day of teaching, Shelly would often spend her time cooking with friends or weaving lava-lavas, a type of kilt or skirt.
“The isolation coupled with living in a subsistence culture was difficult, but once we would start something we wouldn’t quit,” he said. “We felt that if you could succeed there, you could succeed anywhere.”
While abroad, they often journeyed throughout the South Pacific, visiting the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Saipan, Palau and Yap. Afterwards the Greers returned to America, where Shelly took a break from teaching to raise her sons, Ian and Garrett.
After spending time organizing day-care cooperatives and teaching elementary school at the Lummi Tribal School near Bellingham, the Greers migrated to Camano Island, where she was hired at Stanwood Elementary School.
Even while teaching, her pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement remained undaunted as she earned a master’s degree from Lesley College and received principal certification from the Danforth Educational Leadership Program at the University of Washington.
Her time at Danforth was formative, “a life changing experience,” Terry Greer said.
It was during this time when she began to recognize the need for a home school program to serve unique educational needs within the community.
“She approached the school board and was given permission to plan Saratoga School, and no one had any idea what a home-school program was like,” Greer said. “So she visited similar programs all over the state.”
In the end, the program was up and ready, and because of her hard work and reputation, students and families began to enroll. The Saratoga School has grown from 23 to 70 students in the four years it has been in operation, hosting grade levels from elementary to high school and even a Running Start program.
One of those new students included the daughter of a former student from Woleai.
“A lot of her students were very, very close to her. Saying that she was a huge influence in her life, able to connect with her. A lot of times in a regular class school system they could not connect,” Greer said. “She found a way, and bonded with them. It was amazing.”
Shelly Greer is survived by her husband and sons, her mother Madlyn Yarcho, and seven brothers and sisters: Trudi Davis, Roland Yarcho, Bill Yarcho, Angela Benjamin, John Yarcho, Nancy Miller and Darlys Yeager.
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
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