Olive the Educator
- Chandler Museum
When Olive Goodykoontz lived in Chandler (which was off and on throughout her life) she worked as a teacher in the Chandler School District. She taught 28 years in Chandler schools between 1928 and 1971.
Although she began her post-secondary education when she lived in Indiana, Olive completed her training in Arizona. She attended the Tempe State Teachers College in the 1920s to complete her certification in order to be eligible to teach in Chandler. However, she didn't stop there but rather continued her education while Chandler schools were out of session, taking additional classes in both Tucson and Flagstaff on various subjects from Education Psychology to Music Appreciation.
Olive mostly taught at the elementary level, with the occasional post at the high school. The grades she taught and class sizes varied from term to term. In addition to regular classwork, Olive sometimes taught music classes, as well, utilizing her experience with both piano and choir. She was also active in supervising after school activities like drama club and would chaperone the baseball team's away games.
When she wasn't teaching at the public schools, Olive was volunteering her time in the local religious community. While Olive was raised Quaker, there was no Quaker Meeting House in the Chandler area and so Olive became heavily involved in the local Methodist Church. This included teaching classes at the Sunday School where her brother Harold served as Superintendent.
When Olive wasn't teaching in Arizona, she was serving as a relief worker and lecturer for the American Friends Service Committee.When she was in-country, she would travel around giving lectures on International Relations to church groups and schoolchildren. When she was overseas, she sometimes taught English classes although that wasn't her primary duty with the AFSC. In the 1950s, she was offered a full-time teaching job in West Berlin but opted to return home and work for the AFSC's home office.