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Jeanne Peoples spent 30 wonderful years at Bradfield as the first warm and welcoming face you saw when walking into our school. Jeanne was born and raised in Dallas, and started her career with an insurance company while she attended SMU. She then went on to Kraft Foods where she earned the Miss Garland Industry Award (no surprise!), and eventually started her own residential and commercial design company for 10 years. This afforded her flexibility in raising her two daughters, Melanie and Michele, while volunteering on the board of their school. She never intended to have a full time job! And then, in a very fortunate twist of fate, her design business partner (a Bradfield mom) talked her into interviewing for what she thought was a part time job in the school’s front office. Jeanne says she walked into Bradfield and instantly “FELL IN LOVE” with our school, and she knew this was where she needed to be, even if it meant five full days a week.
She went home to her husband Don (Jeanne and Don will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary in December!) to share that her heart was telling her she must take this job at Bradfield. Surprised yet supportive, he stood behind her and the rest is history!
You won’t believe this, but when Jeanne first started at Bradfield in 1994 there was very little for her to do, and not enough work to keep her busy. She said, “I would type checks just to give myself something to do. I couldn’t just sit there!” So, she met with the principal, and started working closely with her on her newsletters. Then she began working closely with the PTA. She loved working with the Yearbook Chair creating annual yearbooks, and she loved working with the Directory Chair on the hard copy directories. (You can find copies of the Bradfield directories in our school display cases, many with handwriting on the front reading “Jeanne’s Copy!”)
As we all know, the daily tasks of her job changed greatly through three decades, while the purpose and meaning of being the face of Bradfield was always the same. Jeanne says the greatest lesson she learned and the gift she gave during her time at Bradfield was to listen. Parents might come into the office upset about something, but oftentimes they just needed someone to listen. As a mother she understood, and she wanted them to know it’s okay to have had a bad morning. She also knew giving a hug to a student is something that could turn their whole day around. Jeanne says, “I can’t tell you the number of times I called a child out of class just for a hug because I knew it was the one thing they needed. Showing warmth and love to our students and families was such an important part of my job. The most important thing I could do was to show those children they are loved beyond means.”
Jeanne misses a lot about Bradfield, and most of all the routine. She knew when 2nd grade was going outside, and she knew when the Kindergarteners had lunch. She loved looking through her glass windows knowing their sweet faces would soon be passing by her desk…tapping on the glass to blow a kiss or make a silly expression.
There are many ways Jeanne believes Bradfield blessed and honored her through the years from comradery with the parents and the staff, to seeing the investment parents have in their children, and of course her tree that sits in front of the school. She often brings her grandson (who is now 19 and on the Dean’s List at UNT!) to proudly visit Gigi’s tree.
Jeanne wants us all to know that choosing to send our children to Bradfield is the best gift we could ever give them! She has witnessed first hand that these valuable friendships will carry them through life, and that our children are becoming part of a community and a tradition greater than themselves. It gives them a place to always come home to.
Home to Jeanne is still Bradfield, and we all know it’s a home that was immensely blessed and changed by the three decades of dedication Jeanne gave to our school!
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