RUMFORD — Working with 5-year-olds during the past 27 years has kept Nora Downs both young at heart and young in spirit.

“We’re sitting on the floor, dancing,  sitting in little chairs,” she said as she tried to sum up her career as an educational technician at Rumford Elementary School for all those years.

“I get a sense of satisfaction watching the children grow in academics and personality from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” she said. “Then seeing their names in the paper for sports or academics when they are in high school.”

Downs, a Stephens High School graduate, had worked in a local nursery school for eight years and taught religion at St. John’s School for four years before beginning her career at Rumford Elementary.

“My mother was a third-grade teacher. I used to help her correct the papers. I liked the responsibility,” she said.

And she loves the hugs, the innocence and learning about the day-to-day happenings in the children’s young lives.

As an educational technician, she helps the classroom teacher plan lessons, teach small groups in math and reading, and a multitude of other classroom teaching tasks.

She’s been at Rumford Elementary long enough that her early kindergartners and kindergartners now have children of their own.

“I often see the similarities between parent and child,” she said.

The mission of early kindergarten and kindergarten has changed greatly during the past 27 years. Both age groups met for half a day in the 1980s, and now both age groups attend classes all day.

And the early kindergarten and kindergarten classes have become a chance for young children to begin learning academics, rather than attend school for mostly socialization.

“Expectations are high in kindergarten. They are expected to read when they leave,” Downs said.

In mid-June, Downs will leave a group of co-workers that she considers her second family.

“I’m going to miss them immensely. They are extremely compassionate and caring of one another and always come through to help any one of us, even at a time that their work load is great,” she said.

She and her husband, Richard, a retired paper mill employee and truck driver, plan to head out West in the fall. As a cat lover with four felines at home, she wants to volunteer at an animal shelter, take trips on the back of her husband’s motorcycle, as well as catch up on her reading, kayaking and hiking.

“I hope I’ve been able to make a difference in someone’s life,” she said.

The couple are the parents of two adult sons and the grandparents of four.

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