NORTH HILLS : ‘Grandteacher’ Still Keeping in Touch

In the living room of her North Hills home, 70-year-old Liane Galvin, pen in hand, paper on her lap desk, is printing one of the 50 letters she sends to Brunswick, Ga., each month.

“It’s much more difficult than writing,” Galvin said, “because you must form the letters correctly so the third-graders can read them.”

When Galvin retired from teaching at the Andasol Avenue School in Northridge in l978, she had no idea that 15 years later she would be the adopted “grandteacher,” pen pal and confidant of more than 300 children.

After retirement, “I immediately missed my pupils,” she said.

So Galvin responded to a story in the student publication Weekly Reader on classrooms around the country looking for retired teachers to adopt as pen pals. She volunteered, heard from fifth-graders of the Burroughs-Molette School in Brunswick, Ga., and has been corresponding ever since.

Brenda Newton, the teacher in the predominantly black school in a low-income neighborhood, said the schoolchildren loved Galvin’s letters and began to confide in her, sometimes more than with parents, teachers or friends.

In 1981, after schoolchildren raised the air fare, Galvin flew to meet her young pen pals for the first time. The day had been proclaimed as “Grandma Galvin Day,” and she has returned annually since.

Today, Galvin now writes to each new third-grade class taught by Newton, while continuing correspondence with fourth- and fifth-graders.

“It could never have gone on if there hadn’t been a dynamic teacher like Brenda at the other end,” Galvin said.

Galvin also volunteers at Andasol Avenue School and has worked for Cal State Northridge offering guidance to new teachers.

But it’s the letter writing, Galvin said, that’s special.

“It’s been a rewarding experience beyond my wildest expectations.”