While most working Americans dream of retiring just one time, Ed McGowan, Sr. just completed his second retirement having amassed a total of 56 years in area schools as a teacher, coach, and administrator with one year off for the first retirement.
Although McGowan is retiring for the second time when a record number of Americans are leaving employment through early retirement or resignation, McGowan has finished his career as an administrative mentor and track and field coach because he has a new focus that he might not have had after his first retirement.
“This time I’m looking forward to doing more in my church and with my wife and my family-especially my grandchildren,” McGowan said. McGowan explained that after his first retirement he thought he was going to enjoy fishing time and working in his yard. “I took off one year and was kind of miserable doing nothing. I cut my yard twice a week whether it needed it or not, and I fished four days a week. I just did not enjoy it. I took one year off and then went back to teaching and coaching. My love is mentoring young people, and I missed that.”
McGowan said that some of his decision this time was also based on a kind of balance that as an administrator he found himself struggling with too often.
“As an administrator I was on limited hours with unlimited work,” McGowan said. “I found myself disciplining quickly because there just wasn’t enough time to really counsel young people and their parents. I didn’t like that.”
He says that retirement will afford him an opportunity to work with families now on his own time table and through his church.
When asked about his long-time success and love of education, McGowan said his ever-growing faith and reliance on the Lord was what allowed him to put in 56 years which is almost unheard of in the educational field.
McGowan is remembered by many as the first principal of Newton County High School when consolidation of Decatur, Beulah Hubbard, and Hickory high schools were completed in the early 1990s. “Consolidation drew me closer to the Lord. I did not want to fail in that job. I don’t like failing, and you won’t fail with the Lord. I went out to that flag pole every morning and prayed, asking God to lead me. It worked because the Lord was with us and there were parents and teachers from all those schools that wanted us to succeed as well.”
In the meantime, as a new school year is just a few short weeks away, he offered up some advice for teachers, students, and parents. The first thing he recognizes is that parenting has changed since he began his career.
“There are more and more grandparents of students having to parent children,” McGowan said. “These children are smart because they have so much technology they can use. Technology is good and bad. While technology can open up a world of information to children, sometimes children don’t handle the information judiciously and create an even wider gap between their grandparents who are acting as parents. These children are able to outsmart their grannies with these phones and the internet.”
And, no matter the age of parents, a return to God can fix anything, McGowan emphasized.
“There needs to be a return to God. Love your children and put in more time with them than you do with the television,” McGowan said.
For adults and children alike McGowan said understanding the negativity of the world can come from one source.
“Read your Bible, and you will find that this has already been prophesied,” McGowan said. “There is not just a great falling away in the church, but also in the world. We as a people are more divided than we have ever been in my lifetime. I don’t want to be putting a dim light on it. It’s just showing what we need to do.”
McGowan went on to add that sports are a positive thing, but participation in sports should not be placed ahead of time in church.
“We don’t see those 15-year-olds in church like we did, but we will see them at games,” McGowan said. “That needs to change if we want society to change. It’s not too late.”
As for teachers, McGowan encouraged them to always remember that they teach children and not a subject. By always remembering the student needs more from their teachers than information, teachers can have a great influence on children’s lives. Making a connection with students is one of the most important things teachers can do, he said.
He offered special encouragement and advice for new teachers entering the classroom for the first time.
“Try to notice in the first few weeks or month the teachers that you aspire to be,” McGowan said. “Watch them even in your spare time. Go to their classroom during your planning time. Get with the seasoned teacher that you respect and those that have good standing in the community. That’s where you will learn.”
His parting advice was for young people going back to school because they are foremost on his mind even as he has retired.
“First set goals – short and long range – and decide early on in life that it’s going to take a great deal of education,” the long-time educator added.
In addition to setting goals, McGowan said, young people need to listen to leaders in churches and schools.
“Choose a good role model, hopefully that’s someone within your immediate family, but if you don’t find one there, God will lead you to that role model if you just ask,” McGowan said.
