Naomi Chastain
If you happen to run into Naomi Chastain when you’re out and about in town, at church, or at The Bascom where she has worked for 40 years, you’ll notice two things immediately.
First, she’s clearly found the fountain of youth, but she insists on keeping that secret to herself so we’ll move on to the second–she is a people person, always ready with a warm smile and warmer greeting.
And she’s a natural storyteller.
You’d never guess that Naomi was once very shy and she credits her 8th grade school teacher, John Gordon (Miss Wilma’s late husband) with helping her overcome crippling shyness.
Her earliest school years were at the Moccasin School just over the state line in Georgia where she was an excellent student. You’ve heard stories that start with “through wind, rain, sleet and snow.” Naomi actually lived that as she had to walk two miles each way to school for her first two years. By her third year her brother, Novie, started school and Georgia allowed their bus across the state line into North Carolina to pick them up.
She transferred to Highlands School in the 8th grade and it was an entirely different world.
Naomi, age seven
Moccasin School had a total of 50-60 students, Highlands had 20-25 in one class. Naomi says she was terrified, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. She wanted to fade into the background and did, never uttering a word, keeping to herself and longing to quit school.
She even tried to convince her Dad to let her quit and stay home to help with housework and care for her mother whose health was poor. Her Dad thought about it a bit and wrote a letter to her teacher, Mr. Gordon, which Naomi hand-delivered, hands trembling.
Naomi doesn’t know what her Dad said in that letter but Mr. Gordon pulled her aside one day and said “Naomi, I’m going to help you through this.”
He initially put her desk behind the coat rack in the back of the room and told her just to listen. That took so much pressure off.
Soon, he told her she could answer if she felt like it, even if the answer was so soft it was barely a whisper. It worked – she was soon timidly answering questions. Her desk was gradually moved from behind the coat rack to the last row and soon enough the first row.
She remembers vividly that by Thanksgiving she was so at ease that when students were asked to walk to the front of the classroom and list their family’s Thanksgiving Day menus on the chalkboard she happily and confidently did so. With a hearty laugh, she remembers including “taters” in the menu.
Naomi is thankful to this day for Mr. Gordon’s understanding and guidance. We are too – just imagine all the stories we’d miss if she hadn’t discovered her voice.
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