TRUMBULL—How does a teacher sum up 50 years in the classroom, remembering the challenges, successes, relationships, and of course, the students? For Marianna Hutvagner, the response comes in just a few words: “Every year and every child is a gift.”
This June, Hutvagner will retire from teaching, having spent all but two of her 50 years in the first grade classroom at St. Theresa School in Trumbull, a classroom that her husband painted decades ago in vivid primary colors. That same paint, she said, remains on the walls today, bright and welcoming like Hutvagner herself, who has greeted the changing times and the hundreds of children with her loving smile, open arms and strong faith.
Upon graduating from Sacred Heart University, Hutvagner spent four years in the convent before leaving to become a teacher. The principal of St. Theresa School at the time hired her on the spot, she said, but at the end of her first year, she was transferred to the school at Christ the King and then to the one at St. Catherine, which were all part of a Trumbull consortium of Catholic schools. After two years away, Hutvagner returned to St. Theresa—and to a classroom of 35 first graders.
“I’ve stayed ever since,” she said, teaching, nurturing, and supporting each child. “I haven’t had to ‘work’ a day in my life. I’ve never had any trouble, except for a few bumps in the road. I always want to challenge students and make them feel special.”
Though educational methods and the curriculum itself are quite different today than in 1972, the inherent needs of a child have not changed, and Hutvagner keeps that in the forefront of her teaching.
“I ask myself, how do I want them to feel in my classroom?” she said. “Are they safe? Are they learning? Do they feel noticed? Do they know they are part of something? A lot of them say they don’t want to go home at 3 o’clock!”
To assist with classroom lessons, parents have often come in to work with students on reading and writing while Hutvagner teaches the others. She remembers one parent volunteer saying to her, at the end of an engaging lesson with much excitement and obvious learning, “You look like you’re having too much fun!” Laughing at the memory, Hutvagner added, “And I was!”
St. Theresa School principal Barbara Logsdail said Hutvagner’s students are so attentive, understanding how much she cares for them.
“She knows how to manage a class and doesn’t need to raise her voice or get angry,” Logsdail said. “The children don’t ever feel that they can’t learn something.”
In addition to educating six-year-olds in the basic skills of reading, writing, math and science, for Hutvagner, sharing God’s word each day was one of the reasons that kept her in a Catholic school.
“The joy of my life is to teach the faith to these children,” she said. “It is not always easy to understand for little ones, but I tell them, ‘As you grow and develop, you’re going to hear it again and again.’ I want them to fall in love with Jesus.”
It’s no doubt that these many students, several of them now priests and dozens more returning to her classroom with children of their own, have learned to love the Catholic faith because of this teacher’s devotion.
In 1986, Hutvagner began coordinating a Nativity Mass in which her first graders, dressed as the Holy Family, shepherds, angels, and stars, “did everything, even the readings!” she said. Each of them also brought a wrapped gift to the altar during the offertory so those less fortunate could have a Christmas party.
Additionally, Hutvagner and her late husband Francis established a rose garden behind St. Theresa School, which still blooms each spring.
Lori Pia, a longtime friend and colleague of Hutvagner’s, has seen firsthand this teacher’s commitment to her faith and her students. “
She treats each child with respect and every year with a fresh outlook, tweaking her curriculum to fit the uniqueness of each class,” Pia said. “Like her school’s patron (St. Therese), she never traveled the world winning souls for Christ, but in Mrs. Hutvagner’s own little corner classroom, she has touched the lives of many souls.”
Reflecting back on these 50 years, from the days of her shag haircut and bell bottom pants through the coronavirus pandemic and virtual learning, Hutvagner said that although she will miss the students and the supportive community at St. Theresa, she is ready to give the responsibility to others.
“God has blessed my life to instill the faith and the truth in these children,” she said.
Though Marianna Hutvagner won’t be in the front of that primary-colored classroom this fall, the students will still see her, now as the volunteer helping them with reading or tending to the rose garden with the little flowers, in the spirit of St. Therese.
A Spring Gala honoring Marianna Hutvagner will be held on Saturday, April 29 at Whitney Farms Golf Course in Monroe. For more information, please contact the St. Theresa Parish Rectory at 203.261.3676.
By Emily Clark
