Sally Maybrook used to teach first and second grades. And then when she was in her 60s, she began volunteering by teaching adults how to read.
That was 20 years ago.
“Actually I just had a big birthday. I’m 85. I’m a very active 85,” says Maybrook, a volunteer for Literacy Chicago.
She still keeps in touch with the men and women she has taught to read.
“One gentleman went to the lake. He’d take a walk, always takes a book along now. And he said, ‘I can see the names of the boats.’ It was such a thrill just to see his face,” Maybrook said.
During the pandemic, she hasn’t seen her students’ faces. But she’s still teaching.
“Now, I talk to these two men that I’m working with on the phone. They do not have a computer,” she explains.
Maybrook talks about one of her first students from two decades ago.
“He’s amazing. He’s writing stories now, and he reads to me. And books.
“What’s interesting to me is, they have to learn the basics, true — writing, reading. But when they get interested in other things in the world, then I know they’re really reaching out.
“Like one of them said, ‘I heard of Amelia Earhart. Who was she?’ And then we study about her.
“I told them, ‘The world is opening up to you.’”