A kindergarten teacher who helped shape the Bellevue and Clyde Hill school community
By: Donovan Martin Sr, Don Chapman, Janine Thorn
There are people in this world who never seek the spotlight, yet somehow their influence reaches further than they could ever imagine. Ms. Stone was one of those people. As a kindergarten teacher connected to the Bellevue and Clyde Hill school community, she helped shape young lives at a time when simply showing up and doing the work carried a deeper meaning. In those early classrooms, surrounded by children just beginning their journey in education, she built something lasting through patience, kindness, and quiet strength.
When you think about the role of a kindergarten teacher, it is easy to overlook just how important those first school experiences really are. For many children, that classroom is where they first learn to trust someone outside their family, where they begin to understand how to share, how to listen, and how to believe in themselves. She understood that responsibility and carried it with care. The room she led felt welcoming and steady, and in doing so, she left an impression that stayed with students long after they moved on to other grades.
The late 1950s were not always an easy time, especially for Black educators who often worked without recognition and sometimes against quiet barriers. Yet educators like Ms. Stone carried on with grace and purpose. Her presence in the Bellevue and Clyde Hill school community meant something. It meant stability. It meant compassion. It meant that every child who walked into that classroom mattered. That kind of impact is not measured in awards or headlines. It is measured in the memories people carry and the lessons that stay with them over a lifetime.
Black History 365 is about honoring the people whose contributions may not have been written down in history books but are deeply woven into the fabric of a community. The work done in those early years was never about attention. It was about service. It was about helping children take their first steps in education with confidence and a sense of belonging. Those early years matter more than we sometimes realize, and she was there at the beginning for so many, guiding them with a calm presence that felt reassuring and consistent.
“I’m one of those she guided. As her former student—a kindergartner in 1959—I remember my teacher fondly. I have no recollection of any children or parents being bothered that she was “Negro” in a class and school that was pretty much all white. It simply wasn’t a big deal. In the larger picture, she was just another teacher. But she was my teacher, and I liked her.
Decades later, my mother told me that I arrived home from school one day and announced, “I like brown people.” I don’t remember saying that, but I do know the sentiment became firmly embedded in my mindset—not that I’d favor or disfavor someone because of the color of their skin, but that character is what matters.
How lucky I was to have learned that lesson at five years old. Today, I have scads of friends—and now family—whose skin color doesn’t exactly match mine. They accept me as I accept them: as fellow humans just trying to make a go of it in this world. Synergy lifts all boats.
Ms Stone (“Miss” being what single women were called in the 1950s), along with my parents, the school administrators who employed her, and the other parents, taught me something that was never part of a kindergarten curriculum: inclusion and acceptance. It’s a lesson I’ve carried for 67 years.” Don Chapman, Class of 1959
“For generations, educators in the Bellevue School District have been laying the foundation for what we now call the Beloved Community, long before we had the words to describe it. We are continuing that legacy by building a community rooted in Dr. King’s vision of a world free from discrimination.
We want this to be a place where every student is affirmed, inspired, and supported to thrive as a creator of their own world. With deep and full community participation, we developed a strategic plan focused on building human-centered systems and relationships, and from that work came We Belong, one of our districtwide goals to foster a genuine sense of belonging for every student. This means recognizing the whole child, who they are, and who they are becoming. We want to ensure that every space in our schools reflects dignity, safety, and care as we continue the important work of educating students.
Superintendent Dr. Kelly Aramaki’s message to staff and students is meant to inspire us and support our learning from one another as we move forward together. Schools and students have responded to his message by sharing how they plan to live by BSD’s values: We Belong, We Learn, We Lead.
At times, this vision feels totally aspirational, but we know that each person in our community plays an important part in shaping what we want humanity to look like here. Ms. Stone and the Clyde Hill kindergarten class of 1959 remind us that this work did not begin today; it began with educators like her, who quietly built belonging through patience, steadiness, and love, even when it was difficult. Their example continues to guide what we aspire to be as a district committed to the Beloved Community. Janine Thorn, Chief of Communications Communications Department
Looking back now, it becomes clear that the true measure of a teacher’s life is found in the people they helped guide. Mis. Stone’s legacy lives on through the students who still remember the warmth, the patience, and the way they were made to feel seen. She was part of a generation that helped build stronger communities from the ground up, one classroom at a time.
As we recognize her as part of Black History 365, this is more than a tribute to a teacher. It is a reminder that the quiet work of caring for children, encouraging them, and helping them grow has a ripple effect that can last for decades. Ms. Stone may have taught kindergarten, but the lessons given reached far beyond those early years. Her presence, her dedication, and her steady influence remain part of the story of the Bellevue and Clyde Hill school community, and that is something worth honoring not just today, but always.
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