Gail Sealy ‘Rock Star Teacher
Saturday afternoon after the Deer Festival, Gail Sealy, first grade teacher at Piedmont Academy, met me at the El Giro Mexican Restaurant and agreed to sit down and tell me about her life.
Since I had only talked to Gail on the phone twice and never seen her before, I had visions of my first grade teacher, a la hair pulled back in a bun with an ultra-conservative gray pants suit.
In walks an attractive woman in a chic black outfit, designer jewelry, a great big smile and she gave me a warm handshake. She out shown any of the rest of us chomping on our tortilla chips and salsa.
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We ordered our iced tea and diet coke and proceeded to discuss the what, when and wherefore of her life.
Our interview was interrupted again and again as I soon discovered, I was interviewing a local rock star, everyone knows Gail and Gail knows everyone.
As she explained, “I have been living in Monticello for 38 years, teaching both at Washington Park Elementary and Piedmont Academy where I have probably taught close to a thousand children sometimes two generations of a family. You just get to know a lot of people.”
“I’m just an ideal girl,” Gail laughs and explains that she was born and raised on a farm near Ideal, Ga. until she was around seven years old. Then her father took a job at the Warner Robins Air Force base and the family moved to Montezuma, and later to Warner Robins.
After graduating from Warner Robins Senior High School where she was a cheerleader, she attended and graduated from Southwestern University in Americus majoring in elementary education with a minor in history.
“I love history, why my cat’s name is Cleopatra.” Gail loves her cat that she rescued when someone dropped her on the side of the road.
Gail is known around Piedmont as a “fashion diva” and enjoys dressing in the latest fashions with some “bling” assessories. “GG” as she is known in some circles and by grandchildren has a wonderful time teaching and loves to see the faces of children learning and discovering new things.
She feels she was born to be a teacher and decided when she was a first grader that she was going to teach.
One of her other talents is serving as Piedmonts’ “resident dentist.”
“Children from other grades seek me out after they have heard that I have a good hand for pulling loose teeth.”
In her spare time she enjoys reading mostly mysteries and books about history.
Gail relocated to Jasper County when her husband of 43 years, Bernie, took a job as transportation director at Georgia-Pacific. They have two children, Shane, who lives in Monticello and Heath, who lives in Athens.
Gail is also the proud grandmother of O’Neil and Fleming, who live in Monticello.
This is her twenty-third year of teaching at Piedmont and she is proud to say that one of her greatest thrills is when students name her as the most influential and important person in their life.
“I just love to see my first graders when what I am teaching clicks in their brains.” And apparently her influence continues throughout their lives.
