‘The hero behind the hero’

She showed him how to hold a crayon. She taught him shapes, colors and the letters of the alphabet.

She comforted him when he skinned his knee. She applauded when he stayed in line in the hallways at St. Joseph’s Catholic School. She smiled when he had good manners and was kind to others.

“You can be anything you want to be if you work hard,” she told him and his classmates.

He has never forgotten her … his first teacher.

After all these years, she is still a ray of sunshine.

For every teacher sharpening pencils and getting ready to return the classroom, let this be your inspiration for the new school year.

When you’re 91 years old, maybe one of your former kindergarten students will remember you on your birthday and at Christmas. Maybe he will invite you to his wedding, the baptisms of his children and stop by to visit when he is in town.

And maybe he will invite you to the Pentagon when he retires as a captain in the Navy. Maybe he will single you out and thank you in his retirement speech to an audience of 250 people, then present you with a bouquet of flowers.

Capt. Reggie Howard has a special relationship with Mrs. Rosa Shaheen, his kindergarten teacher at St. Joseph’s in 1973.

It has been a milestone year for Reggie. In January, he celebrated his 50th birthday. Then came last week’s retirement after 28 years in the Navy. He invited Rosa to attend the ceremony on July 14 in an auditorium at the largest office building in the world.

Reggie stands on a lot of shoulders. His family. His friends. His neighbors. His former classmates. His Navy buddies.

And his teachers. They made a difference in his life.

Rosa has always been at the head of the class.

“She established an early foundation and created an environment that encouraged us to believe in ourselves,” he said. “There were students of many races in that classroom, and she made everyone feel important. She instilled in us a feeling we could do anything.”

Reggie grew up in Shurlington, the middle child of Jean and Charles Howard, and sandwiched between sisters Aljeana and Audra. His mother enrolled him at St. Joseph’s, where Rosa taught kindergarten for 26 years and is still a legend at the elementary school on High Street.

“He had been to day care, but kindergarten was his first structured learning,” said Jean, who retired from BellSouth and later served as both city clerk and county clerk for the Macon-Bibb County government. “Mrs. Shaheen and her assistant, Miss Beverly (Russell), gave him the confidence he could be whatever he wanted in life.”

At kindergarten graduation, students were encouraged to come dressed as what they wanted to be when they grew up. Reggie brought a hat his father wore in the Air Force.

It was close to being a fit. He became a career Navy man, working in aviation.

Many of his 25 kindergarten classmates were with him all the way through high school graduation at Mount de Sales. Three of them — Michael Garvin, Felix Middlebrooks and Carmen Herndon — attended his retirement ceremony.

It has always been a tight-knit group, going back to Mrs. Shaheen’s class. Michael Garvin is the son of the late Mike Garvin, a longtime football coach at Mount de Sales. He graduated from West Point and is now a mathematics professor at Virginia Tech. He has remained one of Reggie’s closest friends, and they have a friendly Army-Navy rivalry.

“There are at least 10 people from that class whose numbers are on my cellphone right now,” said Reggie.

At Mount de Sales, where he was president of the senior class in 1985, Reggie received an academic scholarship offer to Notre Dame. As a Catholic family, his mother encouraged him to attend the heralded school in South Bend, Indiana.

But his heart was set on the Naval Academy. Later, when two of his classmates found out he could not meet the swimming requirements for admission, they went with him to the Macon Health Club every afternoon and taught him to swim.

He graduated from Annapolis in 1989 with a degree in engineering. He attended flight school, and was designated a Naval Flight Officer in 1991. He met his wife, Jodie, when he was at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. They have four children — Olivia, Grant, India Rose and Lily — and live in Ashburn, Virginia.

“In my 28 years in the Navy, I have been in charge of young people with a lot of ability and potential but not always a lot of confidence,” said Reggie. “That’s what I learned from Mrs. Shaheen. Positive reinforcement.”

“Of all his teachers, he always gravitated to Mrs. Shaheen,” said Jean. “From kindergarten on, she became like a member of our family. She has always been there for us. She has come to all the weddings and baptisms. She is always on our guest list.”

Reggie sent her an invitation to attend a ceremony in 2007, when he was promoted to commander of a squadron at Jacksonville Naval Air Station and placed in charge of some 3,000 people.

“He didn’t get my R.S.V.P, so he didn’t think I was going to be there,” said Rosa. “When he looked out and saw me in the audience, he asked me to stand up so everybody could see his kindergarten teacher.”

She also made quite an impression in Washington, D.C. Many of those attending the retirement ceremony couldn’t believe this feisty little lady turned 91 last month.

A friend of Reggie’s wife, who lives in New York, had never met Rosa. But she was so amazed, she later posted on social media.

“This was so special and touching to witness,” she wrote. “We should all be so lucky to have a teacher like Mrs. Shaheen, who saw something in each child and lovingly challenged them to be their best self.”

Because Rosa’s lifelong influence on Reggie has been so remarkable, the woman called her the “hero behind the hero.”

Yes, that’s what all teachers should aspire to be. The hero behind the hero.

This story was originally published July 22, 2017 at 2:23 PM with the headline "‘The hero behind the hero’."