90-year-old retired teacher watching TV found news presenter's face familiar — then she realized a 30-year-old truth
Some teachers play a big part in their students' lives and their success. So a teacher might feel very proud when they get to witness their student's work firsthand. Something similar happened with a former kindergarten teacher who remembered each child she had taught in the course of her decades-long career. The woman saw a man on TV and realized something about the television presenter just moments later, per USA Today. She was very proud of who she saw.
"When I first saw him, I could hardly believe it," the former teacher, Lorly Schik, said about the TV presenter on Kare 11 Sunrise, who had walked into her class as a little boy back in 1988. "I can still picture him as a small, dark-haired child in his K-desk!" Schik told the outlet back in 2015, around 30 years after the boy had been in her kindergarten class. The man, Cory Hepola, had graduated from school, college and made a career in TV — for which he moved across five states before he came back home to Minnesota. On the other hand, the woman had retired as a teacher in 1989 while she was teaching at the Perham school district. She had planned to travel across the country with her husband, but unfortunately, he passed away.
Schik remained in Perham for the next 25 years after her retirement, but at one point, she realized that it was time for her to move closer to her family. Although it was difficult for her to leave her close-knit community and house in Perham, she decided to move to an independent senior living complex in St. Paul in the Twin Cities, where most of her family lived. The woman began teaching in the 1940s and had taught hundreds of students before she retired. She decided that she had to tell her student that she was really proud of him and wrote a note to his parents.
"Hi Diane and Terry. It is with a great deal of pride that I am now watching my former Kindergarten student telecast the news on KARE 11," she noted. The woman could remember the man as a kid and wondered if they could watch the station in Perham. She also shared how she had moved in 2013 to be closer to her family. "Greet Cory. Tell him his K-teacher is now 90 years old, enjoys seeing his newscast and wishes him (and you, too) the very best!" Cory wrote a note in return, shared his phone number and address and asked if the teacher would like to meet him. The two met, per a video posted by Humankind on YouTube, in a heartwarming reunion.
Cory called Mrs. Schik "just the best" and shared that he could never really see her around school again because she retired the year after he joined kindergarten. The man shared that he "needed to see her again" after reading the note. They greeted each other with a big hug in the video. Cory also shared a letter Schik had written for him back in 1988. The former teacher had saved a heart-shaped note the man's mom wrote for her when his year in kindergarten was over. "He enjoyed every minute and had tears on the last day when he realized that he won't go back to you the next year," the man read from his mom's old note. "You have made a positive impression on Cory's life and many others; you should be proud of your teaching skills," he continued with tears in his eyes. The duo was very glad that they got to see each other after so many years.