Prayer quilt gifted to a very special person who is an inspiration

Barb Richter was gifted a handmade prayer quilt made by past and present staff and classes representing all things representative of Barb. The quilt will accompany her to the Mayo Clinic when she receives cancer treatments.

by Trinity Gruenberg

trinity@inhnews.com

Barb Richter has been a bus driver, paraprofessional, and all-around inspiration at the Bertha-Hewitt School.

On Wednesday, April 21, Barb was awarded the Outstanding Layperson in Education. They held the ceremony early as she will be heading to the Mayo Clinic for three weeks for treatment of pancreatic cancer.

“It’s an honor to give this to you, Barb, for your love and dedication to the students,” said Karen Miller, librarian.

Barb began working for the school in 1988 as a bus driver for Bud Kleen, then Gary Kleen until 2012.

In 1997, she began working as a teacher’s aide to Bev Desotell. She worked as an elementary, one-on-one paraprofessional, even working a year as part of the kitchen staff. She is currently a para for Title 1. She worked in many of these positions simultaneously.

Karen recalled when Barb was done for the day and the students were ready to go home, Barb’s bus would be brought to the school for her and she would hop in, switching from para to bus driver. . . .

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