Ark Valley News - Leaving home

David and Susan Unruh met while teaching at Abilene Elementary in the early 1980s. They spent a combined 68 years in the Valley Center school district.

Leaving home
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: June 03, 2013

David and Susan Unruh lived together, worked together and vacationed together. Now, they're retiring together.

The Unruhs, who met while teaching at Abilene Elementary School and have worked for the Valley Center school district for a combined 68 years, packed up their classrooms for the last time this week.

It was time to say goodbye, the Unruhs said.

"I've always enjoyed teaching," Susan said. "You have a few struggles here and there, nothing major. The staff, all along, has been real supportive. It's been a joy. It's bittersweet that you're going to leave."

"They've always been there for us," David said. "It's like a family, especially when you're there for this long."

Susan taught first grade at Abilene during her entire career. She began as a long-term substitute teacher in 1977 and was offered her first full-time contract for the 1977-78 school year.

"First grade is always a challenging year for students because they're learning how to read and doing the basics," Susan said. "So, each year it's a challenge to teach them and it's always the enjoyment of seeing their progress."

Susan said she never really wanted to move to another school or another grade level.

"They are really excited to learn at this age," she said. "… Expectations are higher now than they were when I first started."

Susan, an Iowa native who has lived in Wichita most of her life, said the Valley Center school district has been a good place to work.

"There's good parent support and good community support," she said. "… It's just a nice community."

David, meanwhile, started his career as a second-grade teacher in Palco in 1977. He moved to the Hays school district a year later and taught a fifth-sixth-grade combination class for three years.

David, who grew up in Burrton, returned to the area to be closer to his family and applied for a job in Valley Center. He was hired as a second-grade teacher at Abilene.

"I put everything I owned in a six by 12 U-Haul trailer and came to Wichita," David said.

Fate placed David in a classroom two doors away from Susan's class at Abilene.

"We dated off and on and off and on," David said.

More on than off. The couple got married during the school year in 1986.

They said they enjoy the daily commute together and the career and family connections they shared over the years.

"We really understand each other, and the stresses of the job," David said.

"We have the same days off," Susan said.

"It just worked for us," David said.

David taught second grade for nine years and then took over a fourth-grade class at Abilene. When Wheatland Elementary opened in 1992, David transferred and finished his career there.

Spending their entire careers in Valley Center was never a conscious decision for the couple. They just found their niche and stayed committed to it.

"I got over to Wheatland, I had a brand-new building and things just seemed to go good for me," David said. "That's how I felt about it. I was happy."

Now both 60 years old, the couple said they have been discussing retirement for about two years.

"There are some other things I wanted to do and I want to do them while I'm healthy enough," David said. "So, it just became possible."

In retirement, the Unruhs said they will look for volunteer opportunities, garden more and travel.

"We will be able to do some things that we didn't always have time to do," Susan said.

With no children or grandchildren of their own, the Unruhs said they were fortunate to be part of the lives of hundreds of children and their families over the years.

"It was fun," David said. "It's the kids. I enjoyed the interactions with the kids."