Touching lives
Mayflower educator teaches children, grandchildren, community for more than 50 years
Sharon Green walked into her classroom at Mayflower Middle School one day last week and found a red rose on her desk. It looked to be fresh from the garden. The rose could have been to recognize Green as a teacher during National Teacher Appreciation Week, which was May 3-7, or it could have been to acknowledge her in advance of Mother’s Day, which is today.
Green, 73, has been a teacher for 52 years. She and her late husband, Kenneth Green, had four children, two of whom are still living. The family has grown over the years and now includes five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Green has touched the lives of an untold number of students during her long teaching career.
“If you count about 100 students a year, times 52, that’s 5,200 students, at least,” she said smiling as she sat in her classroom, where she teaches information and communications technology to seventh-graders and career development to eighth-graders. She also sponsors the Mayflower Middle School Yearbook and the Junior Future Business Leaders of America.
“I love Ms. Sharon,” said Kimberly Kock, Mayflower Middle School principal. “Having an educator like Sharon Green be in your school district long-term shows the importance of schools in the community. She has been a support to students and families both inside and outside the classroom.
“She is very special to us. She never forgets a student. She will see someone in a store and say, ‘I knew your mom,’ or ‘I knew your grandmother.’ I feel very fortunate that she still has a passion for teaching.”
Green is the former Sharon Harrell, a daughter of the late Royce and Ann Raney Harrell.
“Dad was a member of the school board for 30 years,” Green said. “Mom was on the Faulkner County Quorum Court for 40 years.”
Green has four siblings — Rocky Harrell, Mark Harrell and Susan Hunthrop, all of Mayflower, and Rick Harrell of Russellville.
“I am the oldest,” Green said. “Mom got married at 15 and had me at 16.”
Green graduated from Mayflower High School as class valedictorian in 1965. She married Kenneth Green, also of Mayflower, on Dec. 17, 1966; Kenneth Green died in 2002. He graduated from Mayflower High School in 1960 and was a building contractor, pastor of the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Morgan and a minister of the United Pentecostal Church International.
The Greens’ first son, Brian Franklin Green, was born in 1976 and died of leukemia in 1978 when he was 2.
The couple’s first daughter, Shannon Denise Green Long, was born in 1970 and died of a heart attack in 2019 when she was 49. She and her husband, Kris Long, had two children, Jordan and Lauren. Jordan Long, 25, and his wife, Chelsea, have one son, Landon, 1 1/2. Lauren Long, 21, now operates the in-home day care that her mother started in 2000.
The Greens’ second daughter, Karon Green, 48, has one son, Aaron Long, who is in the fifth grade at Mayflower Middle School.
The Greens’ second son, Lance Green, 39, and his wife, Halie, have two sons, Sawyer, 4, and Grayson, 1 1/2.
“I taught all my children and grandchildren,” Sharon Green said, smiling. “All three of my children graduated from Mayflower High School … all as valedictorians.”
Green said all her children and their families continue to live in or near Mayflower.
Sharon Green graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree in business and social studies. She has endorsements in vocational education, career orientation, and career and technology education.
Her first job as a teacher was at St. Joseph Catholic School in Conway. She taught business administration and Arkansas history there from 1969-1973 and was the cheerleader sponsor.
“In 1973, I was hired as the business teacher at Mayflower High School, where I taught until 2008,” she said. “During that time, I sponsored the Beta Club, FBLA and yearbook.”
Green moved to Mayflower Middle School in 2008 to teach keyboarding and career orientation.
“When I was transferred to the middle school, I thought my world had turned upside down, but it wasn’t long before I realized that God had given me a blessing. Working with these wonderful teachers and staff has been the light of my life. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything,” she said.
“I had some wonderful memories and co-workers at the high school, but the middle school has been so great. I have taught with several of my former students and have had two amazing principals — John Pipkins and Kimberly Koch. They have supported me and helped me through everything. I love my middle school family. I have no desire to retire soon,” she said, laughing.
“When people ask me when I plan to retire, I often tell them, ‘When you walk into my classroom and see me dead at my desk.’ I love teaching. I never thought about what I wanted to be when I was a child. I guess I decided to become a business teacher because I loved my business teacher, Ms. Hunnicutt,” Green said.
“When I first started teaching, we had the old manual typewriter, then the electric, and then, the Selectric,” she said. “In 1982, we got computers. I didn’t even know how to turn one on. They had to send me to school to learn.
“Now kids know more than we do. They are not scared to try anything.”
Green said her first years of teaching included not only typing, but accounting, filing, bookkeeping and working with calculators.
“All the old-timey stuff,” she said.
Green said all students in the district have a Chrome book to take home.
“I do not teach virtual classes,” she said. “There is no need for me to, since I have all these desktop computers where the students work.”
When asked about her philosophy for teaching, she said, “I tell my kids to try to be the best they can be.
“I tell them they don’t have to be a straight-A student and that all students don’t have to go to college to be successful. There are too many opportunities out there to take advantage of.”
Green said the death of her two children really hurt her.
“When Lauren died in 2019, that was the same year I found out I had breast cancer,” Green said. “She was going to do it all with me — go to my treatments and whatever else I needed.
“I am now cancer-free. I didn’t need surgery or radiation, just chemotherapy. I told the doctor, ‘ The Lord will heal me,’ and he did. Praise the Lord.”
Green and her family, including her siblings and their families, as well as other members of the Harrell and Raney families, were able to get together this year on Easter.
“That was the first time we had all been together since COVID,” she said. “We always get together for holidays and special occasions. We have a pavilion out on the [Arkansas River]. My mother inherited 50 acres out there and gave each of us 10 acres. It’s the perfect spot for our family get-togethers, which are always potluck.
“The Harrells and the Raneys have been here a long time.”
When she is not working, Green enjoys doing crossword puzzles and reading.
“I especially enjoy books by David Baldacci, Michael Connelly and John Grisham,” she said. “I do not read books on a tablet. … I like to hold a hardback book in my hands.”
During most of the months of June and July, Green can be found at the family fireworks stand on Arkansas 365, south of Mayflower.
“We’ve had it in the family for at least 40 years,” she said.
Green said she will celebrate this Mother’s Day with her family, first at church (Mayflower United Pentecostal Church) and then for lunch someplace.
While Green has had her share of heartaches, she remains joyful. Her philosophy for life is, “I can overcome anything.”
Her son Lance said he looks forward to celebrating Mother’s Day with his mother and the rest of the family.
“My mom has always had the uncanny ability to take the place of so many others, while remaining someone who no one else could replace,” he said.
“The challenge of having to describe her and what she means to me is seemingly impossible. She is the strongest, most resilient, stouthearted and faithful person that I know,” he said. “Her love is kind and unconditional, and while I know there are many mothers out there who are just as great as she is, as far as I’m concerned, you won’t find one any better.
“I want her to know that she is and always will be my anchor. I am blessed to be her son.”
Green’s daughter, Karon, shares these thoughts about her mother:
“If you attended Mayflower School in the last 45 years or paid to get into a home game of any sport, then you’ve met my mother,” Karon said.
“Growing up in this town, I’ve always been recognized as ‘Mrs. Green’s daughter ’— a title I couldn’t be more proud of, even though it’s no secret that Lance is her favorite. I’d have to say that I am the most spoiled,” she said.
“She is the strongest woman I know. She’s determined, and even though she gets overwhelmed, she never gives up — she just says a prayer and keeps going,” Karon said.
“There are three things you can count on my mother to do every week — she’s gonna be at church, school and the beauty shop,” Karon said, smiling.