By Doug Forbes

San Rafael Elementary School. Words that ring of pure joy.

Roxie agreed. You should have heard her say the school name with her little lisp…Sthan Rafael Elementary Thcool. Oh, man. It would melt your heart.

SRE is 101 years old and one of the oldest schools in Pasadena. It was also the first school to be awarded California Distinguished School and California Gold Ribbon School in back-to-back cycles. It’s Dual-Language Immersion Program in Spanish is demanding but also highly sought after. And it runs like a clock.

Principal Ramirez is the cheerleader that every public school needs. And the only elementary teacher school teacher Roxie will ever have, Maestra Elva, well, it doesn’t get any better than that. The woman is a saint, a visionary.

Roxie should be seated at a desk right now, hoisting her hand up high in an effort to defend her answer. Instead, she will never learn how to multiply, how to read cover-to-cover, how the government works or how her feet stayed on the ground. She will never have the chance to use her Spanish here or anywhere.

We did homework together almost every day. And despite multiple illnesses and other ailments that kept her out of the classroom on numerous occasions, she never, ever, ever missed handing in her homework on time. That is not a testament to me or to my wife. That was Roxie’s doing. She did not want to let anyone down. She felt a sense of responsibility that was awe-inspiring.

The truth is, Roxie educated me. While I know the meaning of “perthithtence,” she actually exhibited it, week after week after week. Persistence is breathing treatments at 7AM, then a quick breakfast, then a scoot up to school, then six hours of dual immersion learning, then a scoot back home, then homework, then snack and play time or maybe a doctor visit, then a little “nappy,” then an infusion or more breathing treatments, then play time, then family dinner, then quiet time, then bedtime stories, then back at it.

Roxie learned a lot at SRE. But some lessons emerged outside the classroom.

Early in the school year, parents (and now dear friends) of a classmate asked if Roxie could sit with him during lunch due to the fact that his severe food allergies necessitated separation from other tables. She smiled, said “yes” and off she went that day.

She never left his side for the remainder of the year. Her choice.

And that’s something you just can’t learn.