Not many people can boast about spending twenty-nine years in kindergarten. But Rae Janet Schellig does admit to the deed. And because she devoted herself to spending time in kindergarten, she has made a lasting contribution to the Anchor Bay community—a grand gift of experience.

Rae Janet taught in the Anchor Bay School District for thirty years and touched the lives of hundreds of youngsters. While she retired from Sugarbush Elementary and spent a year as a first grade teacher, much of her time was spent at Anchor Bay's Bloom School. Also known as Kindergarten Kollege, the two-room schoolhouse was geared to kindergarten children with no competition from the older children.

A family tradition was started by Janet Socia, Rae Janet's mother, who taught at Hathaway Institute on Green Street in New Baltimore. Today following in Rae Janet's formidable footsteps are teachers Janet Kay Condon and Kathryn Elizabeth Condon, her daughter and granddaughter respectively.

In 2002 Rae Janet Schellig made another remarkable contribution in the form of a $10,000 check to the Anchor Bay Community Foundation. Her generous donation will help to continue her life's work—to make a difference for the community where she was born, lived, and worked. Mrs. Schellig feels a small town is the best place to raise children, and says it's hard to go to any gathering in town (New Baltimore) without seeing one of her former pupils.

Her advice for living the best life a person can live: Have a great sense of humor. Laugh a lot. Look for the best in everyone and try not to criticize. Do the best you can in whatever you choose as your life's work.

The Board of Directors wishes to thank Rae Janet Schellig for her many years of service and for her confidence in supporting the Anchor Bay Community Foundation's mission to provide cultural, social, and educational experience by making this very generous donation.