Teacher and Student Reunite after Years - Story of Pat Harkleroad
I DID IT BECAUSE I LOVED ANA
This statement came from D.C. lawyer Ana Reyes as
she sat beside Pat Harkleroad on November 13, 2020. It was the first
time they were seeing each other in 40 years, and it was a very
emotional interaction.
Ana Reyes, 46 years old, was
born in Uruguay, South America. Her
family moved to Spain for some time before settling in Louisville, USA in 1979.
Her father was a Civil Engineer. Ana could not speak a word of English. “I
remember feeling lost,” she said in the interview with Sydney Page carried in
the Washington Post.
The little 5 year old girl “was adrift”. But help was on
the way. Her first grade teacher, Pat Harkleroad, came to school, Wilder
Elementary in Louisville, one hour early every morning just to teach her
English. “That was life changing, I don’t know how far behind I would have been if no one had
done that,” she said. It was the 1980-81 school year.
Harvard Law School was the next step on Ana’s
life’s journey. She did well there and then it was on to Williams and Connolly.
She is now the co-head of the international disputes practice group. The D.C.
Women’s Bar Association honored her as the Woman Lawyer of the Year in
2017.
According to the article in the newspaper, “Much
of Reyes’ work is pro bono representing refugee organizations and challenging anti-asylum
regulations.”
As the years passed there was something important
that Reyes wanted to do. What was it? She wanted to thank the teacher who so
kindly taught her English when she was a small child. She had to find her, but
how? She could not recall her name. It was such a long time ago!
Eventually on October 24, this year, she
contacted the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education. Things
began to move! When Hackleroad, the teacher, now 77 years of age, heard Ana’s
name she clearly “remembered her student’s struggles in school and her
determination to learn English. Her little mind was just like a sponge,” she
said.
The chief communications officer at the Kentucky
Department of Education helped to organize “a reunion for the two women.”
After testing negative for the coronavirus
Reyes was on her way to see Harkleroad. She was nervous while driving on the
way to her former teachers house.
It was November 13, 2020. Reyes knocked on
the door, Harkleroad opened it and immediately embraced her former first grade
student.
“Thank you for everything,” Reyes said,
overcome with emotion.
“You have no idea how good this made me feel,”
Harkleroad replied. “Nothing has been as great as what this has been for me.”
Then the two women spent some time together
while they shared stories from the past several years. It was, indeed, a
wonderful reunion.
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“I am so proud of her,” the retired teacher
said. “I did what I did because I loved Ana.”
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