Page 11 - The Gonzaga Record 2004
P. 11
S taff R etirement
P h ilo m en a C r o sb ie
Phil came to Gonzaga in 1979, not as A Teacher, but THE Teacher of Prep. 2, or
Fourth Class. We were a Primary School and hence the one Teacher had to acquire
and impart knowledge in a range of different subjects, from the 3Rs to Geography,
History, Environmental Studies, Art, Music, Interdisciplinary Projects and Sport.
One needed to be a competent, widely learned and flexible pedagogue. Phil was all
of these, flavoured with the sauce of a creative imagination.
Phil inspired respect from her colleagues, her pupils and certainly their parents.
She also inspired fear. For Mrs. Crosbie with the bit between her teeth would make
your average tsunami look like a day at the sea
side! Grown men, captains of industry, kings of
commerce, lords of the bar, would simper
apologetically if they were late for a monthly
Prep. 2 Mass, snivelling in pathetic gratitude if
they managed to avoid meeting the liturgical
lioness herself. Phil was formidable!
But her formidability was never self-centred.
It was always in pursuit of a learning objective.
To call Phil a professional Teacher would be to
do her a disservice. For she was much more
than that. The children under Phil’s care were
not just learners to be instructed or occasional
ly inspired. They were fragile young persons,
learning to cope, not just with learning, but
with life itself. And Phil was their mother, cer
tainly by adoption. For she adopted them.
Mrs Phil Crosbie in 1995 with the She could harangue, by God she could
sculpture presented to her by the last harangue, but she would first, last and always,
Prep. 4 class. • i r j i i
i
^ , r
,5
i •
r
’
Made of 5600-year-old Bog Oak from manage, mind, care ror and love those young
Boora Bog, Co Offaly, it depicts a b o y s i n h e r c l a s s e s ' F o r P h l l > therefore, teaching
heron on a rock. has not been a profession, nor even a way of
life. In cliched terms, it has been a vocation.
That is to say, for Phil, teaching has been part of her life itself.
In Prep. II, the Battle of the Boyne was re-lived and re-fought until the boys were
ready to descend from the bus and fight anything that moved in the Boyne valley.
Phil’s background and personality gave her a deep sense of her Celtic culture, his
tory and spirituality. But she was from Northern Ireland. This gave Phil an appre
Page 9
P h ilo m en a C r o sb ie
Phil came to Gonzaga in 1979, not as A Teacher, but THE Teacher of Prep. 2, or
Fourth Class. We were a Primary School and hence the one Teacher had to acquire
and impart knowledge in a range of different subjects, from the 3Rs to Geography,
History, Environmental Studies, Art, Music, Interdisciplinary Projects and Sport.
One needed to be a competent, widely learned and flexible pedagogue. Phil was all
of these, flavoured with the sauce of a creative imagination.
Phil inspired respect from her colleagues, her pupils and certainly their parents.
She also inspired fear. For Mrs. Crosbie with the bit between her teeth would make
your average tsunami look like a day at the sea
side! Grown men, captains of industry, kings of
commerce, lords of the bar, would simper
apologetically if they were late for a monthly
Prep. 2 Mass, snivelling in pathetic gratitude if
they managed to avoid meeting the liturgical
lioness herself. Phil was formidable!
But her formidability was never self-centred.
It was always in pursuit of a learning objective.
To call Phil a professional Teacher would be to
do her a disservice. For she was much more
than that. The children under Phil’s care were
not just learners to be instructed or occasional
ly inspired. They were fragile young persons,
learning to cope, not just with learning, but
with life itself. And Phil was their mother, cer
tainly by adoption. For she adopted them.
Mrs Phil Crosbie in 1995 with the She could harangue, by God she could
sculpture presented to her by the last harangue, but she would first, last and always,
Prep. 4 class. • i r j i i
i
^ , r
,5
i •
r
’
Made of 5600-year-old Bog Oak from manage, mind, care ror and love those young
Boora Bog, Co Offaly, it depicts a b o y s i n h e r c l a s s e s ' F o r P h l l > therefore, teaching
heron on a rock. has not been a profession, nor even a way of
life. In cliched terms, it has been a vocation.
That is to say, for Phil, teaching has been part of her life itself.
In Prep. II, the Battle of the Boyne was re-lived and re-fought until the boys were
ready to descend from the bus and fight anything that moved in the Boyne valley.
Phil’s background and personality gave her a deep sense of her Celtic culture, his
tory and spirituality. But she was from Northern Ireland. This gave Phil an appre
Page 9
