Lillian Secrest Buie's Weblog

'An Incredible Woman'

"In my little high school, Mrs. Buie taught all my English classes, except for freshman English. And she taught all my history classes. She taught my senior high Sunday school class. She was an incredible woman, filled with compassion, dedicated to her task...never, and I mean never, raised her voice."

"Mrs. Buie was just one of those teachers who was determined to find the good in you, and then to make sure you found the good in you. It was like she could see the battle going on inside each of us between our true self and our false self. Mrs. Buie would say, 'There's a writer in every one of you and I will not let you give up until you have found it. '"

-- The Rev. John Roper, a Presbyterian minister in Louisville, KY, who grew up in Wagram, NC, in a sermon about Mrs. Buie.

2003: Lil visits her adored student Marie Woolen in Washington

"Mrs. Buie is an extraordinary teacher and a forever friend. I felt intensely close to Mrs. Buie, going to her often for guidance with personal problems. She mentored me, but more importantly, she loved me and believed in my personal and academic potential. My fragile self-esteem was greatly enhanced. Of course, having a positive image has helped me immeasureably in my whole life since then, influencing absolutely everything I've done, including my choice of the man I married, the work I've done, the way I've handled problems and the way I've treated people.

"I've tried to raise my children by the same lessons I learned from Mrs. Buie when I was an impressionable young girl." -- Rose Marie Thomson Woollen, formerly of Maxton, NC, now living in Massachusetts.