Teacher Inspired Generations of Youth During 31 Years In Elementary Education

Margie Farhni-Schneider was a beloved teacher who inspired many youths during the decades she spent in elementary education.

Her teaching career began in the same types of one-room schoolhouses where she had received much of her early education. Several years later, she chose to selflessly invest both her heart and soul in providing a quality educational experience for the youths attending classes in the Russellville and Jefferson City School Systems.

Spending the first six years of her life in St. Louis, Margie's parents, Joe and Florence Procter, moved to a farm in the Enon area in 1931. As an only child coming of age during the Great Depression, she developed an abiding work ethic by helping with the chores around their property.

"I started to New Zion School in September 1931," Fahrni shared in her later years, when describing the one-room schoolhouse near Enon. "There were three of us in first grade -- Hershel Amos, Norman Amos and me. Raymond Payne was the teacher."

Her mother shared her Christian faith by attending Enon Baptist Church, where Margie accepted Christ as her savior in 1936. When not attending church functions or being involved in school activities, she recalled neighbors spending time visiting one another and enjoying such activities as playing rook, checkers and savoring homemade ice cream.

She said, "Now I was ... out of school, wanting desperately go to high school. Not everyone went to high school back then, in fact, very few did. ... Now going to high school wasn't easy because the bus route didn't run any closer than Enon. I walked through the field, no matter the weather, before daylight, to meet the bus there."

The last few years of her education were fulfilled at Russellville High School, where Fahrni was recognized as the youngest member of her freshman class. In addition to her academic pursuits, she enjoyed playing basketball and participating in the "Pep Squad."

While still a senior, her interest in becoming an educator materialized after she was occasionally pulled from her classes to be a substitute teacher for the lower grades. Graduating as salutatorian of her class in the spring of 1941, Fahrni was awarded a scholarship to attend the Central Missouri State Teachers' College and completed classes during the summer months.

Successfully completing the teachers' exams, Fahrni was 16 years old in 1941 when she was hired for her first teaching position at the Corinth School -- a one-room schoolhouse seven miles southeast of Jefferson City.

"I should add here that many applicants of Corinth School were men with families, and they couldn't live on the salary this little school could pay," she recalled. "I agreed to teach the eight months for $45 per month and paid Elmer and Jane Loesch $15 a month for room and board."

She continued attending college in the summer months and was hired back at Corinth School in 1942. The following year, she was hired at the salary of $90 a month as the sole teacher at Enon School, another one-room schoolhouse that was much closer to her parents' farm.

A young man name Freman Fahrni soon expressed an interest in dating Margie while she was teaching at Enon. The couple became engaged and were married during a small ceremony in California, Missouri, on July 27, 1944. They resided on a farm near Enon and, in 1948, welcomed their first and only child, a son they named Don. Margie recalled, "Our lives went on pretty much the same as other couples. We attended Enon Baptist Church. ... We spent a lot of time with our little boy and about as soon as he was out of diapers, his dad started taking him to livestock sales."

Experiencing financial difficulties because of agricultural conditions in the area, the Fahrni family moved to Kansas City in 1951. For the next three years, Freman worked for General Motors in a program supporting the F-84 Thunderjet, an American fighter-bomber aircraft. When the program was discontinued in 1955, they returned to the Enon area.

For the next 11 years, Margie worked for the Russellville School System, primarily teaching fourth-grade classes. She also made the decision to return to college and finished her bachelor's in education at Lincoln University in 1958. "Russellville School only had one teacher for each grade and if there were 40 or more in that grade, one teacher had them all," she said.

She later applied for a job with the Jefferson City Public School System, teaching several years at Thorpe Gordon Elementary and finally retiring in 1980 with 31 years of teaching credit. Maintaining the dedication to her faith, she transferred in 1970 from Enon Baptist Church to Corticelli and remained active in the congregation.

Freman, her husband of 53 years, died in 1997. She continued to live a life in service to others through her church and by volunteering at St. Mary's Hospital. On Feb. 21, 2004, she married LeRoy Schneider, with whom she had attended school in Russellville decades earlier.

On Dec. 11, 2014, the 89-year-old Margie Fahrni-Schneider died and was laid to rest alongside many friends and extended family in Enloe Cemetery near Russellville.

The stories of those she has inspired are often still shared around the Enon, Corticelli, Russellville and Jefferson City communities, describing a woman who left behind many heartfelt memories.

"She always found some way to compliment us," said Steven Smith, who was a fourth-grade student of Farhni's during the 1962-63 school year. "She helped each one of us to master a subject to the best of our abilities, but her greatest attribute was loving us."

He added, "Later in life, she was a precious friend."

DeeEllen Atkinson, who attended church with Fahrni in Enon, added, "I vaguely remember she had several health issues and when I visited her in the hospital, she was so uplifting with her faith ... even with her illness, which spoke volumes to me.

"She and her family were such pillars in the community and strong individuals who shared their love for the Lord. I can't express how many youth she inspired during her life."