TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo's Notre Dame Academy is mourning the loss of a teacher, Mrs. Trish Beazley Sanders, who passed away on June 3. It's not just the current faculty and students who are trying to process it, but the community as a whole.
Sanders, who graduated from NDA in 1971, taught at the school for nearly 36 years.
She was a woman who made you feel like you could do anything or be anyone. She taught students everything from English to speech and debate, directed musicals and plays, and served many years as a department chair for the arts program.
One of her students then turned colleague, then turned dear friend of 31 years, Jean Walker, shared some stories of Sanders with WTOL 11.
"She was like my, here at school anyway, she was my anchor," Walker said. "She was my rock. I've said this before, my partner in crime."
Walker, a 1982 NDA graduate, said Sanders was a homeroom teacher she always wanted to have but never got. Nonetheless, Walker always managed to be in the room and get kicked out.
NDA Principal Andrea Zimmerman, a 1996 graduate, was also one of Sanders' students. Zimmerman said she's proud of her late teacher's impact on every student.
"You don't remember, necessarily, all the content that she gave," Zimmerman said. "But you're always going to remember, whether it's a colleague or a student alike, how she made you feel."
Walker said she made the students feel like the world was at their fingertips and pushed them to realize their potential.
"It was always about her students," Walker said. "It was always about trying to bring out the best in them, helping them see the best in themselves ... no matter what she had to do get them there, she did."
Zimmerman said she got to experience Sanders' kindness and caring firsthand again when her daughter participated in a musical.
"I got to experience the magic that is Trish Sanders helping my daughter, and the girls and boys that were on the musical as well," Zimmerman said. [She would] know their talents before maybe even they knew it."
And her message of positivity is something that is everlasting.
"Her legacy is that kindness and to spread joy whenever you can," Walker said.
For Zimmerman, it comes down to a cheeky phrase Sanders often said: "Have a lovely bunch of coconuts."
Notre Dame Academy also put out a statement honoring Sanders after her passing.