Barbara Feldon (more about Miss Pierce)

"I soon realized she had no truck with being charming, she was only interested in us, seeing into each of us, gleaning the larval potential lurking there that she might bring to light."
"She encouraged me to recite poetry-------and her praise radiated through me like sunshine."
"She made algebra seem like magic and diagramming sentences like a game and she enthralled us with stories about 'thoroughbreds' -- children who act honorably even in the worst of circumstances."
"Every day of that blessedly phobia-free year was an adventure, and I came away owning much more of myself than I'd imagined existed."
(excerps from "If I Only Knew Then" by Charles Grodin)