A Nashville life touched by saints

Sister Sandra Smithson, Nashville's leading authority on the education of at risk children, was once one herself.

And she sat on the lap of her advocate, St. Katharine Drexel, during one of nun's many trips across the country to visit schools set up by her religious order, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Katharine Drexel used her inherited fortune to establish schools for African-American and American Indian children. Remember, this was the time when the Plessy v. Ferguson rule of separate but equal dominated this nation's education system.

And so Nashville was blessed with one of her schools, and later the great leaders that came out of it --- like Sister Sandra and her sibling, Mary Smithson Craighead.

Earlier this week, Nashville said goodbye to Mrs. Craighead. Her death at 92 was still a shock for the size of the void it leaves. Mrs. Craighead was one of Tennessee's top educators, particularly when it came to teaching children how to read. She established her own program and curriculum, and partnered with her sister in her later years to educate children at risk in Nashville at what was then called Project Reflect --- an after-school and summer program.

It was my privilege to initially be among these two extraordinary educators in the the late 1990s. And we lamented the number of children being left behind by then Mayor Phil Bredesen's Core Curriculum, forced-march classroom program. If a child couldn't keep up, he or she was lost educationally for good -- unless their parents or grandparents got them to Project Reflect and these two educators.

Our success earlier this decade in getting charter school legislation through the General Assembly and then Gov. Don Sundquist's signature allowed this dynamic duo to open Nashville's first charter school. And there is no way to estimate how many children have been saved. We'll know by the amount of taxpayer money saved on incarceration and single parenthood and perhaps, just perhaps, one of these young people growing up and finding a cure for cancer.

Too many deaths have marred this year in Nashville and left us looking for leaders to fill the void. The passing of Monroe Carell, Jr., was an enormous loss. The children's hospital at Vanderbilt named after him is an incredible treasure. And I've witnessed the miracles it makes during my monthly visits for treatment of my leukemia. Children are transported in little red wagons from stop to stop. And by the color returning to their cheecks or the smiles to their faces, Mr. Carell's generosity is magnified in its invaluable return to humanity.

Mrs. Craighead will be missed as a fixture in the Metro education community. She knew where the problems were in educating children at risk. Her sister always contended that we should first look to the universities turning out teachers to make sure that these new instructors already have experience in dealing with the culture shock of an urban classroom of social and academic needs.

She's right. So was her sister. According to the Education Trust in Washington, D.C., a good and well-trained teacher can catch up a child in five years. But that teacher must be trained to overcome the initial shock of teaching at risk children -- academically and socially. That survival training only comes with on-hands' experience provided while still in college.

Mrs. Craighead truly was a saint by the most important measure -- standing up and acting at the moment of crisis for the least among us. She retired and unretired many times, each time rousing herself to the need of our most vulnerable children.

Now, this marvelous lady and professional educator rests in peace and in the glory of the God she continually served. Thank you, Father, for the most wonderful gift of Mary Smithson Craighead.

I wish to extend my condolences to Sister Sandra, and my congratulations to her for having a life touched by two saints.