Published: October 10, 2007 05:36 pm         

Kretzschmar quit teaching, kept serving

Remembered by classmates for her involvement and honored by her teachers for her dependability and academic standards, Wileta Dickey Kretzschmar will preside over 2007 homecoming festivities as the Cleburne High School Ex-Students Association Coming Home queen.

“She was great to be around,” said Ernie Parham, who with fellow members of the class of 1963 nominated their classmate for Coming Home Queen. “She was always involved — just like she is now. She was, and remains, a sweet person, lovely to look at, lovely as a person.”

During her years at CHS, Kretzschmar spent three years on the yearbook staff, serving as editor her senior year. Her interest in journalism was reflected in her membership in Quill and Scroll; her interest in education reflected in her involvement with Future Teachers of America. Her school activities also included Future Homemakers of America, National Honor Society, Record Club and Guidance Club, and she served as a Willard House officer and song leader. As a senior, she was recognized by her teachers who named her to Who’s Who at CHS.

“My days at CHS were wonderful,” Kretzschmar said. “It is such an honor to be selected as Coming Home Queen. I appreciate the compliments from my classmates that got me here. It’s just an honor to be nominated.”

After her graduation in 1963, she went on to attend North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), where she received her Bachelor of Science degree and vocational education teaching certification in 1967. That same year she married her high school sweetheart, Ken “Kenny” Kretzschmar.



Starting out

After their wedding, the Kretzschmars moved to Tulsa, where Ken worked in sales with the Quaker Oats Co., and Wileta began her career in teaching. They later moved to Louisiana, where their daughter, Shaina, was born in 1970, followed by Kristi in 1972.

In 1978, the Kreztschmars returned to Texas, settling in Houston, during which Wileta taught vocational home economics and served as department chair at Spring High School. When Ken was promoted to the district office in Dallas, the family chose to settle near Cleburne, building a house in Bono, to be near Wileta’s parents.

“This gave us the opportunity and privilege of our girls graduating from our high school,” Kretzschmar said. “This was important to us since Ken was manager of the Yellow Jackets when they were named football co-champions in 1959. And I loved my high school years, so both of us were very happy to be a part of Cleburne again. We have been football season ticket holders since 1982.”

After their return home, Wileta resumed her teaching career, serving 23 years at Joshua High School as a career preparation-cooperative education teacher and program coordinator. She was honored as Joshua High School’s Teacher of the Year for 2002-03.

“I loved working with juniors and seniors getting ready to start a career and life after high school,” she said. “Many of these students have become lifetime friends and current contacts.”

“Teaching was and is my passion,” she said. “Helping young adults to become productive citizens in today’s world was always my goal. I was blessed to have had this opportunity in the Joshua community.”



Voluntary life

During her years as a teacher, mother, wife and later, grandmother, Wileta, who is now retired, also found the time to give back to her community through her involvement in such organizations as King’s Daughters, Heritage Assembly and the Greater Cleburne Carnegie Players.

She has served on the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Johnson County, Johnson County extension family and consumer science and Better Living for Texas advisory boards. Her past memberships also include United Educators of America, the Carnegie Players board of directors and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.

She remains a member of the Friendship Circle of King’s Daughters, the Children’s Advocacy Center board of directors and Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers Association of Texas. She and Ken are members of Westhill Church of Christ.

Kretzschmar’s other interests are many — Joshua ISD’s Homework Haven, Ronald McDonald House and the Dallas Junior League Soup Kitchen. She continues to work with the Johnson County 4-H program and the Johnson County extension service as a judge at the annual Johnson County Junior Livestock Show and Youth Fair. She and Ken raise Longhorn cattle on their property in Bono and also enjoy hunting on their ranch in Breckenridge.



Family matters

Her pride in her service as a mother and grandparent also take up much of the space on Kretzschmar’s bio. Her oldest daughter, Shaina, is married to Shawn Corzine. Both are graduates of Baylor University and live in Tyler with sons Cameron, 8, and Carson, 6. Shaina owns an interior decorating business, and her husband is pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.

Kristi Kretzschmar Miller lives in Dallas with her husband, Wes. They have one daughter, Kate Elizabeth, 3, and a second daughter is due in January. A graduate of Oklahoma University with a degree in marketing, Miller works for a consulting firm, while her husband owns a real estate business.

Kretzschmar will be among the participants in Thursday’s homecoming parade, set for 6 p.m. and will be recognized at the community pep rally in the CHS gym, which will follow. She will also be among those honored at a reception set for 4-5:30 p.m. Friday at Caddo Street Grill, which will coincide with the second annual CHS Cheerleaders Reunion. And she will be presented to the crowd during pregame ceremonies set to begin at 7 p.m. before the kickoff of Cleburne’s homecoming game against Crowley.

     

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