I’d Like to introduce myself to those of you who don’t already know me.
I am a retired teacher with 30+ years working with our children, coaxing, encouraging and pushing them to be the best they can be. I am the current president of our Knox County Retired Teachers’ association, Vice Chair of our Democrat Executive Committee and Vice President of our Knox County Democrat Women’s group. I volunteer my time collecting food and needed goods for our local women’s shelter, supplying Go-Bags with hygiene kits for Social Services to give children who are being moved into foster homes so they have something of their own to take with them and go on monthly community services projects for under-served groups in our counties.
Visiting nursing home with Valentine’s Day cards. This was a fun event.
In addition, I actively support causes I feel are important to our communities and invest both my time and money in the same. I take Matthew 25 verses 31-40 seriously and try to follow the instructions Christ left as part of my life.
Go-bags and hygiene kits
Bailing Mr. Dye out of Relay for Life Jail.
I live in Knox county on a small piece of ground that has been in my family for hundreds of years. I choose to live here, I have strong deep roots here, I work here, my children went to school here and I volunteer here. I want South Eastern Kentucky to be a strong, thriving communities that offer the opportunity for success and support for its children and all its people.
I am a; wife, mother, teacher, life-long learner, bee-keeper, seed-saver, subsistence gardener, back yard flock and rare breed chicken farmer, pedigreed cat breeder / showman, volunteer and ever trying to be faithful to the letters in red. I have two children. My son, Travis, is an 8-year Army Veteran who served in Iraq and currently lives in Lexington with his wife and their children. My daughter works in one of University of Louisville Hospital’s pharmacies and is working on a degree in nursing. Gary Payne, my husband of 34 years (in April) is a brick mason who has worked for hundreds of you laying brick, rock and paver’s for your homes. He is a deacon in our church and avid outdoors man. If it has fins, fur or feathers he’s probably brought it home and I’ve probably eaten (and liked) it.
I believe that a quality education in all areas of life is the single most important service we can offer our children, families and communities. Our children are the future of our communities, our nation and our planet. I will do battle for them if needed. I feel that battle is needed now more than any time since compulsory education was enacted to ensure our children a high quality public education.
I want to develop programs that support our people who are work-willing and job-seeking to have a reliable means to get to their jobs. I want to ensure that our students and citizens have access to trade, apprenticeship, craft and technical skills training expanded. My husband, Gary Payne, is a Master Mason, he has requests for more residential brick work than he can get to in a season. Why does our Tech School system have only two masonry classes offered across the Commonwealth, and those rely on commercial requests not small business and homes?
There is a native American proverb that says:
“We don’t give the Earth to our children, we borrow it from them.”
Our environmental policies should reflect that truth.
I hope to meet each you, sit and talk a spell and hear what your wishes are for our district, because I’m Listening!
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