ASSUMPTION, Ill. (WAND) — If you're looking for the best kept secret in education, you should turn to Helen Lehman. Although she might be 103 years old, her lessons are still found in classrooms to this day. 

When asking Lehman why she became a teacher, the answer is simple: "I love kids! You don't go into teaching if you don't love kids!"

Decades later, a century-old teacher reconnects with mentees

Lehman's teaching career started back in the 1940s, where she taught classes of ten children in a schoolhouse. It wasn't long into her career, when she stumbled across a new teacher starting her first year right down the hall.

"Helen was a blessing! She was my mentor when I started teaching..." said Jane Shull, whose mentorship with Lehman soon became friendship. The two  taught for years just doors apart. 

The story doesn't stop there. 

"Jane was my second-grade teacher! She had a great impact on me and made me love learning," shared Vanessa Rork, a special education teacher at Bond Elementary in Assumption. 

Shull added, "Vanessa was an exemplary student!" with a grin.

Decades later, and generations apart, these three teachers all found their way back to one another on a Sunday afternoon. While recalling "The Hungry Caterpillar" read-a-louds and teaching spelling lessons, it wasn't long before the three realized how many lessons they shared in common. 

"Even though education has changed over the years with strategies and all these new models, those simple things, like having that deep connection with somebody, doesn't..." said Rork. 

Lehman's classroom lessons passed onto Sholl, who passed them onto Rork all these years later. 

Lehman said, the best advice she passed down was to listen to your children as much as you can. "You've got to give a kid a voice. You don't want to squelch them. You've got to have patience."

That, right there, is the magic she instilled in Sholl and Rork. 

"You're helping mold a life," Lehman says. And these three teachers, continue to mold thousands. 

To this day, Lehman says she still runs into former students who remember all of the lessons she taught in the classroom.

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