In appreciation of Wendy Radcliffe

Thank you for helping me connect with others and for caring about my success. Enjoy your retirement. You earned it.

Wendy Radcliffe has been a speech language pathologist with Austin ISD since August of 1984. She retired last month after 39 years of distinguished service helping countless students including the author.

Dominick Segura, Mac photojournalism
May 8, 2023

You went to the University of Kansas and the University of Texas. Your desire was to help deaf children from a young age.

I had a beautiful time with you as my speech therapist in elementary, middle and high school.

You taught me to sound out the letters of the alphabet, which helps me still with my speech today.

You shared some good words of encouragement, showed me that you cared and wanted to see me succeed in school.

I have seen you work so hard and give hearing-impaired students many years of selfless service.

When you told me that you were going to retire, I was in shock. I didn’t believe it.

“

You taught me to sound out the letters of the alphabet, which helps me still with my speech today.

I said. “O Lord, what I’m going to do?” I felt sad.

My eyes got full of tears, and silence appeared.

But now is the moment for you to relax, enjoy and live.

It’s time to get in touch with friends and learn or do something you have not done.

The time has come to rest, so you can hear the birds and the rooster sing in the morning.

Oh, how we’ll miss you.

The years you have studied speech pathology and the devotion to your career show me how much your gave up of yourself to help us.

You helped us learn about communicating and socializing with others.

This is the reason I feel and see myself as your child from the blessing of God.

“

Now is the moment for you to relax, enjoy and live. It’s time to get in touch with friends and learn or do something you have not done.

I felt a little sad about you leaving, but you worked for 39 years—a long time with the school district.

I look forward to seeing you again when you return as a part-time staff member.

You plan to travel and goes places around the world.

Don’t forget that I will always have you in my mind in our shared memorable moments.

I look up to you now and will continue to do so through the years.

Congratulations and happy retirement.

Editor’s note:The digital media students wrote 300-word stories that emulated the feature profiles written by Brady Dennis for the St. Petersburg Times in the mid-2000s. Shield co-editor in chief Alice Scott prepared a master class on Dennis’ stories for the newspaper staff, and adviser Dave Winter was so impressed with the lesson that he changed his feature profile assignment based on what Scott taught the staff about Dennis’ stories. As a result, we have a collection of wonderful short profiles that are well-crafted, powerful and straight from the heart. We are pleased to start sharing them on the Monday of Teacher Appreciation Week with Dominick Segura’s wonderful statement of appreciation for his teacher Wendy Radcliffe, a 39-year veteran who retired last month. We hope you enjoy this story and future 300-word stories posted on our website as much as we did.