Walking up and down the hallways at Grandview Elementary School, 83-year-old Jane Allen knows no strangers.
Allen, known as Grandview’s Granny throughout the school district, said she has played a role in educating students there since 1989.
“Some kids here I had their grandparents in school,” she said.
Allen, who attended Harris-Stowe College, taught in the Catholic school system in the St. Louis area for about 20 years before going to work in the Grandview R-2 School District as a substitute teacher. She retired as a paraprofessional when the 2019-2020 school year wrapped up early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, that retirement didn’t last long.
“Last year, I felt like I needed to come back to work (as a volunteer) in the Oasis (Tutoring) program,” she said.
This year, she is a part-time paid paraprofessional working with elementary school students as a math interventionist, working three days a week, five hours at a time.
Allen said over the past 60 years, she’s taught every subject at the high school and every grade level from preschool on up. She recalled teaching accounting for six weeks and shop for another six weeks.
She’s even taught homebound students and remembers teaching the rules of sports to a boy who was homebound and unable to take a regular physical education class.
Allen was a scorekeeper for the basketball and volleyball teams and kept the stats for football. In her 70s, she was dubbed the oldest cheerleader at cheerleading camp – she has a photo as proof.
Superintendent Matt Zoph said Allen has always been one of the district’s cheerleaders.
She’s taken part in many fundraisers for students and has been the focal point of some homecoming activities, including one stint as a member of the Kiss band performing three songs on a flatbed trailer alongside two teachers and a school secretary. Allen also said she makes quilts for former students and staff for special occasions.
Tears came to her eyes as Allen, who moved from St. Louis to rural Jefferson County in the 1970s, explained that education is her life and Grandview is her home.
Allen has three children, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“I guess you could say I have thousands of grandkids from Grandview,” she said, smiling.
She said she keeps in touch with many former students and some stop by her home to catch up.
Grandview Elementary Principal Brian Duffie said he is happy to have Allen at his school.
Duffie said Allen is often the soft-spoken, warm-hearted person who provides students with one-on-one help with math or reading.
She also often helps children who are struggling with being away from parents for the first time or who need a warm, grandmotherly figure in their lives.
He said Allen has touched a lot of lives and has gained the trust of many students over the years.
Duffie also said Allen is one of the most energetic workers around the district.
“If hard work were to have a name, it would be Jane Allen,” Duffie said.
“She works hard every day.”
The 2011 Grandview yearbook was dedicated to Allen.