Teacher marks half-century on job
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
KAIMUKI — When Winona Gonsalves started teaching at St. Patrick School, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, television was in black and white, and computers were still using punch cards to process data.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The year was 1953. A half-century later, she's still there.
Winona Gonsalves, 67, started teaching soon after she graduated from high school at age 17 and was offered a job teaching a first-grade class of 60 pupils. "I'm very comfortable here," she said of the friends she has made at St. Patrick School on Seventh Avenue in Kaimuki.
Gonsalves is a rarity in a day when the national average is for a worker to change jobs every seven to 10 years and the Hawai'i average for a teaching career is 27.2 years.
Including her nine years as a student, Gonsalves has been a part of St. Patrick for about one-third of its 74-year history. In her 50 years at St. Patrick, Gonsalves has instructed an estimated 1,300 students, taught every subject and grade, and, in short, become an institution. For all her contributions, the school is observing Winona Gonsalves Week in her honor.
The festivities started Monday, with the presentation of lei and congratulations with letters from Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Jeremy Harris, Bishop Francis DiLorenzo and the superintendent of Catholic schools. On Tuesday, the school honored all its teachers and held a coffee hour with former students and colleagues. Yesterday there was a luncheon to formally recognize Gonsalves. A slide show to be shown to students today will chronicle her 50 years.
In an interview at the start of the week's festivities, Gonsalves, 67, talked about her love of teaching and how she didn't feel a need to be recognized for her work.
"Teaching is not a job to me," said Gonsalves. "It's more of a social thing, being among friends.
"I'm very comfortable here. Once I'm on this campus, I know every nook and cranny."
Ask anyone on campus — they know who she is. They say she's fair. She's hard. She gives a lot of homework.
But she's never mean. She's never cross. And never disorganized.
Two generations of Olivieris say so.
"She's fair," said Keoni Olivieri, a sixth-grader at St. Patrick School. "She's always nice. Always organized.
"She's the best teacher I've ever had."
Keoni's mother, Danelle Olivieri, recalls Gonsalves as "structured and stern" but "caring and loving."
"She has a definite sense of humor," said Danelle. "She's still the same."
Gonsalves started teaching when she was 17, a fresh-faced graduate of neighboring Sacred Hearts Academy. She also had attended St. Patrick and because she had three younger sisters there, she spent a lot of time hanging out at the school. When she graduated, one of the teachers asked her if she wanted a job.
That September, her future was decided.
She taught first grade that year with 60 students in her class.
"It was scary that first year," she said. "But the Sisters were so helpful and there was a lot of support."
From that day on, she worked to earn her reputation as an exacting teacher, someone with high expectations but also someone with humanity.
Over the years, while teaching full-time, she put herself through college at Chaminade University by attending classes at night and during the summer.
This year she is teaching fifth grade and is third in command at the school, said Sister Rose Miriam Schillinger, the principal at St. Patrick
Gonsalves plans to continue teaching as long as she's able.
"As long as I'm healthy and I can drive myself and I can still do the job, I'll be here," she said. "I love teaching. It's never boring. Every day is different. Every class is different. Each year is a new beginning."
Former students visiting the campus during this week's festivities remember Gonsalves well.
Tammey Peltier was an eighth-grader at St. Patrick School 27 years ago. She said Gonsalves looks the same today as she did then.
"She taught us math and P.E.," said Peltier, whose name then was Takahashi. "She did everything with us. We always knew what was needed to be done and what the consequences were, but she never raised her voice."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
Correction: St. Patrick School was founded 74 years ago. Winona Gonsalves began teaching at the school in 1953. Information in a previous story was incorrect.
