On Aug. 7, 1953, Helen Mitchell Brown made Scranton history as the first black teacher in the school district.
Then 22, Helen Mitchell said she felt "on top of the world" at the news that she had filled the 13th and final open position as an elementary instructor.
The lifelong Scranton resident died Sunday, at the age of 82.
Her father, Robert J. Mitchell, a coal miner turned night employee of the Hotel Casey, had to be woken up to hear the news she had been given the job.
"You've made history, Sis," he said to his daughter.
She spent 39 years teaching kindergarten and second grade at James Madison and Prescott schools where her daughter Lynne White, 51, Taylors, S.C., said she gained a strict reputation.
"She was tough, but they all loved her," Mrs. White said. "Every year, she got gifts from all the kids."
Growing up, Mrs. White said she often helped her mother prepare items for her classroom.
"She would buy them stuff to go to Nay Aug Park and to go to other places," Mrs. White said. "She would always buy for the underprivileged kids."
She also made sure education was the top priority.
"She leaves a legacy of kids who know how to read, write and do arithmetic. That is important in this generation," Mrs. White said. "If you were with my mother, you know how to read."
Throughout her teaching career, Mrs. Brown taught several generations of some families, her daughter recalled. It was difficult to go anywhere without someone stopping them to say hello, she added.
Mrs. White said she and her "mommy" shared the same dry sense of humor.
"She was a fantastic woman, always willing to laugh," she said.
Obituary appears on B8.
Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter