Joe Pat McDonald smiles when he remembers his mother, the late Winnie McDonald.

And it's not surprising that he does. Mrs. McDonald passed away 15 years ago at the age of 95, but in those years she touched so many lives as a teacher, author and the Union County Historian. Joe Pat remembers growing up with Mrs. McDonald, his father the late Tad McDonald, and sister Sharon, in Sharps Chapel and later Maynardville. His mother, he said, had a great love of language, reading and poetry, and she loved all of her students, too.

Mrs. McDonald lived on the Clinch River in Sharps Chapel, and she started teaching at Walker's in 1929. Over the years, she taught at several Union County schools, including Long Hollow, Rush Strong, Bull Run and Horace Maynard High School. She took a few breaks in the early years to care for her family, but after coming back to Horace Maynard High as an English teacher in 1948, she stayed there until her retirement in 1970.

Joe Pat said he can't visit Union County without someone approaching him with memories of his mother.

"A lot of them, especially the boys, Mama had us memorize poems. For a boy to memorize a poem in 1955 or before was kind of an unusual thing. They never forgot it. I would meet some of them, and they would tell me about memorizing thus-and-such a poem, how they used to sweat over it, and it actually got some of them into reading poetry," Joe Pat said.

In fact, Joe Pat had Mrs. McDonald as a teacher when he attended Horace Maynard High.

"It was hell on wheels for her and me," he said with a grin. "I had to sit there and keep my mouth shut and walk the straight and narrow because my mother was the teacher."

But Mrs. McDonald was also generous and had a big heart for her students, many of whom didn't have much money. When there was a special program for students at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Mrs. McDonald always made sure her students had the money to attend, plus enough for a hamburger and Coke at Blue Circle afterwards.

"She looked after them in that way," Joe Pat said. "If they were going to have a prom or a dance or something, she saw to it that the girls had something to wear and that the boys had suitable clothing. They never forgot it. If Mama hadn't helped them, they wouldn't have gone. She loved the students in Union County."

Perhaps her desire to help those in need came from Mrs. McDonald's experiences during the Great Depression. Joe Pat related one memory of Mrs. McDonald that stuck with him.

"One summer, it was hot. We were upstairs going through boxes of old clothes, my old clothes from when I was younger, Daddy's old clothes. I was fussing and griping and carrying on because I couldn't play ball or go fishing," he said. "Finally, she got tired of listening to me. She was hot, and she said, 'I've lived through one Depression, and you've never wanted for anything in your life.' I've never forgotten that because it's true. The folks who lived through the Depression, they've got a different attitude than those of us who came along afterward."

After retirement, Mrs. McDonald stayed busy, becoming active in the DAR, University Women's Club, and several other activities. But her love of history she indulged as Union County Historian.

"She was interested in the history of Union County, and I guess maybe she had the insight that if some records weren't kept, that the history of Union County was going to go away as these people died," said Joe Pat. "She had the foresight to see that if they didn't do something, that a great part of Union County would be gone."

She was joined in the effort by a former student of hers, Bonnie Peters, who serves as Union County Historian today. Together, they compiled books of history compiled from interviews with Union County residents. The first book was "Our Union County Families," followed by "Union County Faces of War."

"Winnie was a joy to work with and a wonderful teacher," said Peters. "She coached me when I won a 4-H speaking contest and got to go to the Tennessee State competition. Often, when she was riding with me to some event, she would quote long poems and could remember and quote them into her early 90s. She had a great sense of humor and genuinely loved her students."

Ronnie Mincey, who is supervisor of federal programs at Union County Public Schools, also has good memories of Mrs. McDonald and Sharon, who followed in her mother's footsteps as a teacher.

"I was privileged to be good friends with both," said Mincey. "They both had wonderful senses of humor. Here's a tale for you. Ms. Winnie and Sharon visited my mother and me one day. Ms. Winnie was conservative in all things, but Sharon was an extravagant, flashy dresser. In the middle of our conversation, Sharon gets down on her knees and starts looking under the couch. Ms. Winnie asked her what in the world she was doing. Sharon looked up at her and said, 'I've lost my blankety-blank earring.' The remaining earring could have substituted for a large Christmas tree ornament. Ms. Winnie said, 'How could anything that big fall off your head and you not know it?'"

Joe Pat remembers the day he had to ask Mrs. McDonald to stop driving. She was in her 90s at the time. He fretted for some time about how to tell her she needed to give up her car keys.

"When I walked in the door, she reached down and handed me the car keys and said, 'I need to quit driving.'"

Tales like these, of caring, humor, wisdom and dedication, make me wish Mrs. McDonald was still with us, and that I could have known her, too.