Isabel Preacher - Icon, Teacher - Dies At 96

PLANT CITY - Once every century or so, a community marks the passing of someone whose influence has been so profound it defies description.

Such was the case Monday morning when scores of former Turkey Creek High School students filed into Hopewell Baptist Church to pay their respects to their favorite teacher, Isabel Preacher.

"She was an icon," said Dana Welch, the youngest of nine children for whom instruction by Preacher became a family rite of passage. "When the minister asked how many people at the service were her students, just about all of us raised our hands - just like in school."

Preacher, who died peacefully in her sleep Nov. 15 at the age of 96, outlived her family, including a niece and nephew who died two years ago.

Widowed since the 1970s, she and her husband, George, had no children.

"Her students were her children," said Welch, who was inspired by her former history teacher to launch a decade-long battle to save a former Turkey Creek High School building from the wrecking ball.

Preacher called Welch, a leader of the school's alumni association, when she learned in the mid-1990s that the historical red brick building, where she spent 35 of her 47 years as an educator, was to be demolished to make way for a parking lot. The building is on the campus of Turkey Creek Middle School, 5005 S. Turkey Creek Road.

"She said, 'I'm not as young as I used to be, but I still have some fight left in me,'" Welch said. "She said we should cherish our buildings."

Encouraged by Preacher, the Turkey Creek High School Alumni & Friends Association won the building a place on the National Register of Historic Places, lobbied the school board for money to restore its exterior and raised several thousand dollars selling commemorative brick pavers.

Barring county budget cuts, the red brick building is slated to become the community's first public library in 2010.

"I'd like to see the library named after her when we do get it," Welch said.

Preacher, whose father, Harry Martin, served as the school's principal before the start of World War I, once said she had never contemplated the possibility of leaving such a legacy. She wondered, if it came to pass, whether the name might be Isabel Martin Preacher to honor her father as well.

"That would please me," she said.

A life member of the East Hillsborough Historical Society, "Miz Preacher," as everyone called her, remained active to the end.

"This year's October banquet was probably the first she's ever missed," society President Shelby Bender said. "But she was there last year, all dressed in pink and pearls."

It was likely the same pink dress she asked to be buried in, said Lynda Fuller, whose mother and Preacher were friends since childhood.

Fuller took care of Preacher and her affairs in her final years, carrying out the final wishes of the impeccable and independent teacher.

"She had it all planned out," Fuller said.

Preacher called upon her former student, retired minister Ernest Holbrook, to preside over her service at Hopewell Baptist.

Holbrook told those who came to Monday's service that Preacher had been "like a second mother" to him.

Holbrook was a one-time member of The Strawberry Pickers, a local band that appeared to be Grand Ole Opry-bound. He spoke of how he reached a crossroads in his youth where he felt the need to choose between his music and his ministry. Preacher told him to follow his heart.

He chose the ministry.

Preacher was a fan of the Pickers, and her love of music would take her to live entertainment capital Bronson, Mo., many, many times.

"She was a real world-wide traveler since her retirement in 1974," said James "Sonny" Jones, a former student who went on to become an educator.

Jones, who Fuller called upon to deliver the eulogy on Monday, joined Preacher on many of her chartered trips to Branson, Canada, Newfoundland, Pennsylvania Amish country and anywhere else that struck her fancy.

Jones, who went on to become the first principal of the current Plant City High School campus when it opened in 1972, was 15 years old when he met Preacher at Hopewell Baptist.

"She was really before her time," he said. "She'd do things for kids that you just wouldn't think about people doing."

Like taking youthful members of the church on "mixed" swimming outings that included members of both genders.

"That was a real no-no for a Baptist church," he said.

The enterprising history teacher also would charter buses and take her charges on field trips - the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, a murder trial in Tampa - anything to expose her students to things they normally wouldn't see.

"We were rural kids who didn't have exposure to a lot of things," Jones said. "She was always stressing current events as well as history."

Sunday's viewing brought a steady stream of visitors from the many students and friends Preacher had made over the years.

Monday's service brought tears, but mostly laughter from funny stories gleaned from Preacher's long and active life. The Rev. Wayne Clayton, pastor of Hopewell Baptist, joined Holbrook in presiding over the service of the church's oldest member.

Preacher was laid to rest in the Old Hopewell Cemetery beside her husband and parents. It was the consummation of a long-awaited journey.

"Two days before she died, she told Fuller, 'I'm so tired. I want to go on home and be with my family.'"