Jontha Lee Mercer, the Floyd County Pioneer Association Pioneer Woman of the Year for 2022 at her home in Lockney. (Ryan Crowe/FCR)
LOCKNEY – Jontha Lee Mercer loved teaching. You can tell it was her life’s purpose by two full photo albums she has kept of her 42 year career. The pages of these albums hold the school pictures for every student Mrs. Mercer taught at Lockney Elementary School.
Mrs. Mercer was recently named the Floyd County Pioneer Association Pioneer Woman of the Year. She sat down with the Record to talk the award, but more importantly to talk about what it meant to be a teacher in a community like Lockney.
ON THE RECORD: Jontha Lee Mercer
Mrs. Mercer allowed me to take a photograph of a poem she had written in 1965 about teaching. She said she had never shared it. We felt it was a wonderful tribute to her, and post it now with her permission:
