LIVERMORE — Three Regional School Unit 36 teachers with more than 100 years of teaching experience combined were recognized Thursday by the district and school board with three trees planted in their honor.

Valarie MacDowell of Livermore, retiring after 41 years of teaching kindergartners, and Linda Gramlich of Chesterville, retiring after 38 years of teaching second-graders, threw the first shovels of dirt on their tree roots. The flowering crab apple trees were planted on the street side of the school and opposite each other, to reflect the side of the building where their classrooms were.

Both teachers have taught their entire careers in the district.

High school family and consumer education teacher Donna Wilcox of Leeds also threw the first dirt on the roots of a European mountain ash tree set at the school. Her tree was planted in the front of the school behind a granite bench, the Class of 1999 gave Livermore Falls High School.

Wilcox has taught for 27 years, 25 of those in the district, including 19 at the high school.

RSU 36 Superintendent Judith Harvey made the presentation to the elementary school teachers on behalf of Principal Jeannine Backus, who was unable to attend.

MacDowell and Gramlich had led their students outside as did other teachers and students unaware of the dedication.

Harvey thanked the teachers for their years of educating students and service to the district.

It’s been quite an adventure, Gramlich said after the ceremony.

She said she was glad she was given the opportunity to teach in the district, she said, and it was with mixed emotions that she is retiring.

“I am excited I am retiring but I am also sad,” she said. “It’s bittersweet.”

She was happy about plans to come back next year and substitute teach.

“It’s been a wonderful 41 years,” MacDowell said. “I’ve had wonderful children and I have worked with some wonderful families.”

Andrew Berry, owner of Berry Hill Agway in Wilton, which donated the trees, said he had MacDowell as a teacher.

“She was a great teacher,” Berry said.

At the high school, Principal Shawn Lambert thanked Wilcox for her dedication to students and school, and the school board for recognizing “that we are losing something very important to us.”

“It’s a well deserved retirement,” Lambert said.

Wilcox wiped tears from her eyes during the ceremony.

“I love teaching,” Wilcox said. “I love the kids.”

She told students who gathered that she would be thinking about them in August when it is time to return to school for another year.

“Ms. Wilcox, you’ll have to come back and visit,” one student yelled out.

When Wilcox thought the ceremony was all over, state Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, stepped forward and presented her with a legislative sentiment recognizing her for all the parenting and cooking classes she has taught among others and her dedication to teaching.

He had also presented one previously to Gramlich and MacDowell.

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