HECTOR — Mary Launius Inman grew up in Hector, right on the edge of the Ozark National Forest. She came to Arkansas from North Carolina when her father accepted the position of Bayou District ranger of the Ozark National Forest.
She entered the Hector School District as a fourth-grader and went on to graduate from Hector High School in 1974. At the end of this month, Inman, 60, will retire from her 25-year teaching career, with the last 11 of those years being spent at her alma mater. She teaches social studies, which includes U.S. history, civics, economics, contemporary American history and geography.
“I moved away for a while, thinking that maybe I was more of a city girl,” she said with a smile, “but I moved back. I now take school kids up to Bayou Bluff, which was part of my dad’s area.”
The daughter of Delowell “Rufus” Launius and the late Geniece Launius, Inman moved away after high school. She was a stay-at-home mom to three children for several years before she decided she wanted to go to college.
“I had wanted to be a teacher since the seventh or eighth grade,” she said. “I had an English teacher who I idolized.
“I got derailed a little bit and entered college as a nontraditional student, but I wanted to do it. I felt liking teaching was my calling.”
Inman graduated from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in 1987 with a degree in history and political science. She taught in the Dover School District before coming back home to teach at Hector.
“Teaching is different than what it was 25 years ago. Technology is the biggest change,” she said.
“When I first started teaching, I had an overhead projector, and that was all we had for a long time. Now we are a one-to-one school — with each student having access to some sort of electronic device. My juniors use MacBook Air laptops,” she said.
“The technology has made our jobs as teachers easier in some ways,” she said. “There is less paperwork.
“For students in a small school like ours, technology is the key. Our students don’t have the opportunities those in larger schools have, but our students are just as well qualified. Access to the Internet has made all the difference.”
Inman was involved in teacher training, working for three years for the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
“We learned to teach about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen,” she said. “That tied in with my American government classes. I loved doing it and used the information I learned for several years in my classroom.”
Inman admits she is “a little young to retire, but I have enough years to be able to do so with full benefits,” she said. “I lost my mother three years ago, unexpectedly, and I have changed my priorities in life.
“I want to spend some time with my family.”
Inman is married to Kelley Inman, who is already retired. They live in Russellville.
Mary Inman has three children.
Her older daughter, Tricia Crawford, and her husband, Lynn, live in Cave Springs, and she teaches second grade in southern Missouri. They have three children — son Alex, who is a junior at Welch College in Nashville, Tennessee; daughter Maddie, who is a senior at Rogers High School; and son Eli, who is a sophomore at Rogers New Technology High School.
Inman’s son, Jeffrey Coffman, lives in Russellville.
Her younger daughter, Christy Millsaps, lives in Dover and has one daughter, Isabella, who is in the first grade at Hector Elementary School.
“Isabella has been having a wonderful time riding to school with her Nanna — me,” Inman said with a laugh.
Inman said she looks forward to retirement.
“I enjoy sewing andquilting,” she said. “And my husband and I would like to do some traveling — not right away, but it’s something to look forward to. I’d like to travel by camper … if I can just talk my husband into buying a camper.”