The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING THE LIFE AND WORK OF MRS. MATTIE McALISTER
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HON. MARCY KAPTUR
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in tribute to a one-of-a-kind woman in Toledo, Mrs. Mattie McAlister, who passed from this life at the age of 98 years on July 7, 2022. Mattie McAlister was a giant in the education of the young people of Toledo.
Mattie McAlister was born in Benton, South Carolina, the youngest of eleven children born to Pearl and Arthur Garrison, he a teacher and she a midwife. Her father started a school for Black children in their rural county and taught adults in the evening in the Garrison home. Mattie graduated high school at age fourteen, obtained her bachelor's degree and began teaching high school math and science. She went on to study at Detroit's Wayne State University, the former Mary Manse College in Toledo, and earned her master's degree from the University of Toledo.
Upon her arrival in Toledo in 1960, Mattie McAlister took employment with Toledo Public Schools, teaching at several elementary schools until her retirement from Fulton School in 1991. After that, she worked with children at Grace Community Center and developed a curriculum there. She researched and developed methods to address the uniqueness of ``Summer's Child,'' a term she coined for those children born in the summer who were often the youngest of their peers in school.
Her obituary in the Toledo Blade makes clear the influence Mrs. McAlister had on her young charges and the educational system:
``Mrs. McAlister retired in 2014 from Grace Community Center, where she developed a curriculum and worked with children, from kindergarten through eighth grade. She also shared pearls of wisdom that have become part of Grace's culture. Her sayings ``had to do with how you treat one another in this world,'' said Elaine Taite Page, Grace executive director since 2012.
``She told students, `Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go higher than you think,' and
`The nicest words I know are, `Excuse me,' `Thank you,' `If you please,' '' Ms. Page said, Students energetically chanted, ``Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Your good becomes better, and your better becomes best.''
``Those sayings are on display at the Center.
``There was never a student she could not reach,'' Ms. Page said. ``She made people understand, I see you, I value you, and you are somebody.''
``The one word that epitomizes what was driving her is a four-letter word. Love. Love supreme,'' Ms. Page said.
``In the Center's after-school programs, she arranged children in a circle. Sitting on an African-style chair of carved wood, she opened with, `How was your day?' '' Ms. Page said.
``She could glean needs that had to be heard, to be recognized. She had a positive affirmation to leave with every child,'' Ms. Page said.
``Mrs. McAlister worked to reinforce reading and math skills during the Center's summer program and guided high schoolers who had returned to be youth leaders.
``In one of several autobiographical sketches, Mrs. McAlister wrote that at Grace, ``my greatest joy was creating learning games, successfully teaching language arts and math, along with character-building exercises. I enjoyed sharing parenting tips for parents who had precocious children who challenged authority.''
``My greatest pride,'' Mrs. McAlister wrote, ``was teaching children to read and managing my children's behavior in a kind and caring way. I did not send them to the principal to be controlled. I dearly loved my students. Each one of them was my pet!''
Mattie McAlister's lessons for life for anyone who struggled; indeed for everyone, showed that what you lived, how you contributed, is what matters. She never lost patience. She had a teacher's cadence when she spoke, and people listened. Her lessons on life should be on billboards for all to learn.
Spiritual, poet, teacher, mentor, matriarch, activist, all are words which describe Mattie McAlister, and her legacy is writ large. Yet, as profound as her impact has been for the near century of her life, Mattie McAlister's greatest achievement is her family. To her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, we pray for peace in the memory of the priceless gift of Mattie Garrison McAlister's life well lived.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 124(1), Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 124(2)
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