The 2025-26 school year may have come to an end, but not before the schools in the Diocese of Gary could express their appreciation to those educators who are retiring. This year, eight individuals closed the book on their teaching careers and began to look forward to their next chapter.
John Loera - St. John Bosco School
John Loera said he feels fortunate to have spent the last six years teaching Technology to students pre-k through 8 at St. John Bosco School in Hammond. He shared that his wife of 37 years has been at the same school for many more years.
“Teaching gave me a chance to make a difference in the community,” Loera said.
St. John Bosco School has always held a special place for Loera. He said the staff is top-notch and the students work very hard. As important, he noted, the pastor and his assistants are always supportive.
“The main advantage of a Catholic School is its roots in promoting the faith and going beyond simple lessons,” he said. “We teach the whole student, not just basic subjects.”
Loera does not have specific retirement plans yet, but noted that the thought of reflecting on what has been accomplished over the past few years excites him. Watching the kids go and succeed, and being a part of that feels good.
“At the end of the year, when a child smiles and thanks me for all he or she learned, you have to feel good about what we do,” he said.
Barbara Brandon - Notre Dame School
Before Barbara Brandon was hired at Notre Dame School, she enjoyed entertaining: Follies with a director from New York, playing the organ for a Miss Indiana Pageant in the Elston High School Gymnasium, her trio "The Barbara Brandon Trio" performing in restaurants, etc. organ/piano, a guitar and drummer during the summer and giving piano and organ lessons in her home studio for many years.
Did she enjoy teaching music? “One hundred percent! It makes me feel happy and joyful!”
Brandon said Notre Dame School is very special. She has worked there with many different principals over the years and stated her entire time there was “all good.”
Brandon believes the students are lucky to have God in their lives and to learn many different subjects. She was always excited about the "All School Productions" – Christmas plays and musical "Spring Sing" programs every year.
She also enjoyed singing church hymns and a variety of genres, teaching music theory, percussion instruments, and now the ability to have TV screens showing a variety of music subjects.
One of her favorite memories involved teaching a young girl, a student, to play the piano at Notre Dame School. The girl is now teaching 8th grade. Brandon said Joanna Wood knows theatre, and they have put on many Christmas and spring productions together with the help of others.
In retirement, Brandon hopes to travel and have more time with her best friend, family and great-grandchildren – 11 of them.
“I will always love Notre Dame School,” she said.
Terri Bartels - St. Stanislaus Kostka School
At St. Stanislaus Kostka School, Terri Bartels has taught kindergarten, first and third grades. She enjoyed them all, but when she landed in third grade, she knew she was home… It’s by far her favorite grade to teach.
“I call third graders the last of the littles,” she explained. “What I’ve enjoyed most about teaching is the constant challenge of figuring out how each of my students think and learn.”
Bartels said what makes St. Stanislaus Kostka School special is its community atmosphere. Although students, families and staff change, the community’s commitment to each other stands strong and ever present.
“We all work together to provide a successful and positive learning environment,” she said.
Bartels said the main advantage of working in a Catholic school is the freedom of teachers to intertwine God’s Love into all they do throughout the day. She shared that her number one classroom rule has always been the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.
“Every situation we encounter we see through the lens of this ever-relevant rule,” she said.
Bartels still recalls arriving at St. Stanislaus Kostka School for a job interview for a first grade teacher. She felt very comfortable and valued during it. Bartels said she knew she was meant to be there when she was standing in the first grade classroom and noticed The Lord’s Prayer hanging on a wall – a prayer she recites regularly.
“The memory I hope I’ve instilled in my students is, ‘When you’re grown up and trying to select a job/career, always do something you love, because if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life,” she said.
What excites Bartels the most about retirement is that it’s a new frontier. Her life will be a fresh new journey as she is leaving everything wide open to new experiences. Having no time restraints will create a freedom that she said she has not experienced for decades.
Spending time outdoors every day is at the top of Bartels’ list of things to do, along with spending more time with friends and family.
“Teaching has been a wonderful part of my life that I’ve been able to share with so many,” Bartels said. “I thank God for placing me in the role of teacher.”
Linda Didelot - Nativity of Our Savior
Linda Didelot knew since third grade that she wanted to be a teacher. She kept focused on this goal all the way through school.
“I had the best caring teachers that any impressionable young mind could have,” she said.
Didelot went to Ball State University to be an elementary teacher, but fell into substitute teaching for middle school. That's where she found she needed to be. When Didelot first started teaching, she was at Nativity and was there for three years. She then spent a year at St. Paul Catholic School before being called to the public school system, where she spent 25 years.
“I actually took the job of my sixth grade teacher,” she said. “Life is certainly a circle.”
Didelot has taught most subjects that could be taught at the middle school level, but her favorite has always been math.
Didelot retired from public school before she was ready to leave teaching, “due to so many things that public school teachers have had to deal with these days.” She had retired for six years, traveling and enjoying family with the retired life that she enjoyed, but one day, while at Mass at Nativity, Father Kevin McCarthy announced that the school needed an 8th-grade teacher and a 5th-grade teacher.
“A feeling like I had never experienced before overwhelmed me, and my heart swelled up, and my tears flowed freely,” she said. “God was calling me to return to teaching.”
Didelot said she can't say enough wonderful things about the Nativity school, priest, principal, staff, and especially the students and parents.
“It is the place where, when you are not home, it becomes your home,” she said. “This school makes the difference shine like a shining star.”
The best memories that Didelot will take with her are the moments when the graduating students return to visit or when she sees them at Mass. She said many former students have shared that a difference was made in their lives because of the time spent at Nativity.
In her third retirement, Didelot plans on traveling again, spending time with her 14 grandchildren and her husband of 51 years, and continuing to volunteer at Nativity.
“I will return to see the other classes graduate and to ask them about their future plans,” she said. “If it's your calling, it will keep calling you. God called me here. I answered.”
Pattie Barone - St. Michael School
Pattie Barone taught 33 years in education, both in public schools. The last 13 years all at St. Michael School. She and her husband, Nick, sent their children to St. Michael School, so it was very natural for her to slide in a kindergarten classroom when the position opened up for her one week before school started. And she never looked back.
“It was a dream come true,” Barone said. “I have always said that God puts where you are needed, and I will forever be grateful to God and St. Michael School. I knew it was family from the first day we walked in and the last day I walked out. It will always be home to me.”
Barone enjoyed watching the kindergarteners come to school every day with the enthusiasm of wanting to learn. She said they had joy in their hearts each day, and weren't afraid to show it in their smiles, high fives or hugs.
“It was like fuel for me to keep going and be the best I could be for them,” she said. “I loved seeing their abilities expand in their reading and writing; learning and understanding computations in math; but most of all, being able to teach about the power of prayer, and how the Trinity of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are here in our classrooms, playgrounds, and homes every day.”
She added, “I got to watch 5 and 6 year olds learn compassion and kindness through the grace of God in our ability to talk about him everyday in a school setting.”
Barone feels very blessed to work at a school that supports teachers, students and parents in a loving and compassionate way. She shared that St. Michael School is a family who shows up for one another as often as possible.
“Our principal and staff look out for one another like no other school I have ever worked for,” she said. “Our students are comfortable with the idea that every teacher loves them, no matter if they are new to the building or have walked our halls since pre-school or kindergarten.”
Barone said the memories she will carry with her as a kindergarten teacher at St. Michael School are endless; from the first day seeing tears in the parent's eyes, or ripping a child from the tight grasps of their parents neck on the first day of school. Another was watching those students walk across the stage nine years later to receive their diploma and watching how excited they are for the next chapter in their lives.
“As I hang up all the ABC's and 123's as a kindergarten teacher,” Barone said. “I look forward to connecting with family and friends here and beyond Indiana. Traveling, morning walks with my furry best friend, reading to escape and relax, and volunteering.
Mary Koster - Bishop Noll Institute
Mary Koster, a teacher at Bishop Noll Institute, grew up in Western Michigan. She went to college and met her husband, Tim, and worked in a nursing home to put him through seminary. They have four children, of whom three are married and a granddaughter.
Koster, a Protestant, thought she would love being a stay-at-home mom, but God had different plans. Prior to her husband passing away from cancer in 2016, he told her he thought she should go back to teaching. She had been working at BNI and took a 10-week family leave absence to help care for him when he was in Northwestern Hospital.
The advantages of a Catholic school, Koster said, are the smaller class sizes and the fact that she could ask questions to the priests about things that happen at Mass that did not happen in her church services.
“The thing I love most about teaching is watching the students ‘get it,’” she said. “When they explain the concept to someone else, the student says ‘Why did she not say it that way?’ and the other student responds with ‘She did.’”
Koster said the teachers that she worked with in the science department cared for each other. She appreciated that when she was going through a rough day, they would ask and be available to listen.
“After my husband died, there was money collected for me,” she said. “I created a fund at Dordt University for any student that needed to fly home because of an emergency, so that there was money for the student to do so.”
Koster is looking forward to living 1/2 mile from her granddaughter, as well as her daughter and son-in-law. Her granddaughter recently told her, "Grammie, I am coming over to your house every day after school!"
Others moving on from their roles as educators in the Diocese of Gary include Jamie Gore from Nativity and Jeff Sandford from Andrean High School. For more information on the Diocese of Gary Catholic Schools, as well as employment opportunities, visit https://dcgary.org/office-catholic-schools.
