AFTER 35 years at Karara State School, Lyle Batterham says her greatest pleasure remains seeing the students educated at the tiny school west of Warwick go out into society.
"It's just wonderful to meet former students from Karara and see the people they have become," Mrs Batterham said.
"They've gone on to do everything, right across society.
"The school's motto has always been 'Strive to Succeed' and I think that is what kids at Karara have always been good at."
Mrs Batterham's achievements were recently celebrated with an community afternoon tea in the Karara Hall. A highlight was when previous student Alfie Hilton helped Mrs Batterham cut a cake as part of the celebration.
At its peak in the 1980s Karara boasted 35 students when the wool industry was booming. Those numbers fell to as low as four enrolments during the worst of the drought.
Trained at Kelvin Grove Teachers College in Brisbane, Mrs Batterham was first assigned to Mirani State School west of Mackay.
However, she had already met her future husband Sandy when she was training in Brisbane, which saw her take up a roll at Warwick State High School.
Based at Carbean, Mrs Batterham would drive her tiny white Datsun 1200 the hour each way to school every day. That included having Sandy drive the tractor across the flooded Macintyre Brook so she could get to town.
Janie Carson, who worked as teacher's aide for years 14, said Mrs Batterham had a major influence on the students and was a guiding light for new principals.
"Lyle was the constant in the school community," Mrs Carson said.
"Certainly the job of the new principal, who had often just been promoted from a classroom role, were made much smoother with Lyle's guidance and knowledge.
"It was just terrific to see a most loyal staff member help them through their new posting and to see how many children benefited from Lyle's carefully prepared lessons and total dedication to their education."
Lyle and her husband Sandy are pursuing new projects including hosting the farm stay Carbeancountry.com.au
