Ruthmary Long – 3rd Grade Teacher
Personal Biography
Hello! My name is Ruthmary Long and I teach 3rd grade here at St. Mary’s. My husband, Kevin, and I live in rural Platteville. We have 4 children and 5 beloved grandchildren. Our son, Jason, is 33 and lives in Greenfield, WI with his wife, Leslie, and their daughter, Ellie, 5. Jason recently received his PhD from his alma mater, Marquette University, and is head of the gait analysis lab at the Medical College of WI in Milwaukee. Our daughter, Bethany, 30, is a nurse and lives in Menomonie, WI with her husband, Mark, and their daughters Megan, 8, and Ashley, 7. Our second daughter, Kelsey, 27, operates a very successful daycare facility. She lives in Plainview, MN with her husband, Tim, and their sons Alex, 6, and Carson, 2. Brenna, 18, is our third daughter and just started her freshman year of college at UW-Eau Claire where she plans to major in Communicative Disorders/Speech Pathology.
Education: I graduated from UW-Platteville in 1988 with a BS degree in Elem. Education (K-6).
Employment: I was a substitute teacher for a year following graduation and have been teaching at St. Mary’s School for the past 19 years. On an interesting note: my family has been in Platteville and the St. Mary Parish since 1954 when my dad, Bob Bodden, started the first radio station here. All eight of my siblings, including myself, are graduates of St. Mary School. The Bodden Family’s connections to this school are long and deep!
Why I teach? Children differ in their approach to learning, so experiences must be created to make the subject matter meaningful for each individual. I try to foster confidence and good self-esteem in each of my students and reinforce that God, through His many blessings, is at the center of our lives each day.
I can be reached at 348-5806, Ext. #1006 at school; my e-mail is rlong@straphael.org.
