Miz Maddalee...

I was very blessed to share a friendship of eleven years with Miz Maddalee, who lived to the young age of 110 years.  At 100 years she was still living in her own home and mowing her yard with a push mower.  Miz Maddalee had been a school teacher for over 50 years, yet she never actually ceased teaching.

How we met is she came to hear Nora and I speak.  When she came up to meet us afterwards, we were as enchanted with her as she said she was by us.  She was no longer driving by then and missed her bus, so I drove her home.  From that point I visited her as often as I could.  

What a fascinating lady she was!  Because she was born in 1876, she had so many stories to tell.  Yet it was her inspiring wisdom that especially touched me from her many years of living and teaching.

She told me besides the learning from books, the one thing she most tried to instill in her students were the things not found in books.  Like integrity.  

Each year Miz Maddalee gave her older students what she felt was the most important thing they could have:  her "Integrity Speech."  Curious, I had her share it with me too, and now I will share it here because she gave me a copy of it...

Integrity means honor.  If you have a horse for sale, you are honest about its soundness.  You don't go selling a horse who you know has had lameness and not tell this to the person buying your horse. 

Integrity means being true to yourself, so you are true 

to others.  That you are the same person with the downtrodden as you are with the rich.

Integrity means not just having a conscience but one you listen to.  If you abide by your conscience and you strive to do what is caring and good by it, others will know this and respect you for this.

Holding onto integrity means having the courage to do what is right.  

Holding onto integrity is having a caring heart and a willingness to help.

Holding onto integrity makes you have confidence because you believe in yourself.  

Holding onto integrity gives you the determination to not give up. 

Holding onto integrity gives you a sense of purpose.

Holding onto integrity means you will always have friends, trust, admiration, and respect, because you have done your best.

Not long before Miz Maddalee passed away at the age of 110, I talked to her on the phone.  She immediately recognized my voice and was just as alert as she ever was.

She asked, "My child (everyone was 'my child' to her), do you still have the copy of my "Integrity Speech" I gave you years ago?"

"Yes, Miz Maddalee, I do."

"Good.  Would you please share it with others in the world for me someday?"

"Yes, Miz Maddalee, I will."

And so I am.