NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — Teachers can leave a positive impact on their students that lasts a lifetime.
That is something Ricky Latimore Jr. knows after a chance encounter with a teacher that changed his life 24 years ago.
Latimore will begin his first year working at an elementary school when Newton County Schools begin on Monday.
Last week, he attended a workshop for new teachers. When the instructor entered the room, Latimore had an immediate flashback to his own elementary school days.
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That’s because the instructor, Andrea Dowdy, was his fifth-trade teacher
“You changed my life! You loved me when I was at my lowest! I am Ricky Latimore!” he told her.
Latimore said she recognized him immediately and they had a tearful reunion.
“She gently held my face, just as she had done when I was a child in her class. She tearfully repeated my name, ‘Ricky, Ricky, my sweet Ricky!’ She never forgot me, and I never forgot her,” he told Channel 2.
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Latimore grew up in Jasper County and attended Washington Park Elementary School.
He said he struggled in school because his family lived in poverty and the only clothes he had came from a thrift store. But he said Dowdy always supported him and never looked down on him.
“In those dark times, teachers like Ms. Dowdy were superheroes who restored hope,” he said. “It was teachers like her that helped me to understand that I could walk with my head held high.”
Latimore said Dowdy recently found a photo of their fifth grade class and thought about him and his classmates recently. They reminisced on stories from 24 years ago.
It was a reunion that Latimore will carry with him when school starts on Monday.
“Standing before her as a 34-year-old man, I felt fortified by the profound influence this angel of a teacher had on me all those years ago.”
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