allis hanley

Early Childhood Director Retires after 27 Years

By Gretchen R. Crowe
Herald Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 5/18/06)

Allis Hanley received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1968-69 and never looked back.
With her husband working overseas for the Department of Defense, Hanley taught in Poland, Greece, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic before finally settling at Corpus Christi Early Childhood Center in Falls Church in 1999. After a seven-year tenure as director — “the longest I’ve been anywhere,” she said — Hanley will retire this June, bidding farewell to the “knee-huggers,” as one of her three sons calls the center’s 3- to 6-year-olds.
After 27 years of teaching spread out over nine schools, in the middle of which she took 10 years off to raise her boys, Hanley, a parishioner at St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax, continues to give her all to her profession. Every morning at Corpus Christi, she greets the center’s 100-plus students, chats with their parents and visits their classrooms.
“At first I was disappointed because I didn’t have my own class,” said Hanley, who had applied for a teaching job and was offered the position as director instead. “But now I feel like I have my own class of 107 because all the children know me.
“The hardest job is done by the teachers,” she added. “My job is mostly to make sure everything is coordinated.”
Because most of her career was spent in international schools, Hanley said she and her husband gravitated toward the diverse community at Corpus Christi.
“Many nations are represented in the community and it reminds me of my teaching experiences overseas,” she said.
While abroad, Hanley said she met families from all over the world and learned that children, no matter what their nationality or culture, have many common denominators.
“I’ve learned that children can get along together no matter where they’re from,” she said. “I’ve also taken more pride in our own country after living overseas.”
After Hanley’s husband, Dan, retires next year, the couple plans to move to Lenoir City, Tenn., south of Knoxville. In the meantime, finding things to keep her occupied in this area shouldn’t be a problem. After living abroad for so many years, Hanley has never been to Wolf Trap performing arts center; Ocean City, Md.; or seen the museums in Washington.
Even with a move planned for the near future, Hanley said she has “loved being in one place” at Corpus Christi.
“It’s given me a chance to establish long-term relationships, especially with the faculty members and staff and with the families that are here,” she said. “It’s been nice for me to see the children as they grow. The children who started as 3-year-olds are now in the fourth grade.
“They learn so quickly and they take everything very seriously and they show their emotions,” she added. “When they’re happy they show it, and when they’re sad they’ll cry and you need to help them.”
The nice thing about being in a Catholic school, she said, is that when children don’t get along, you can ask them: what would Jesus do in this situation?
“It’s been an inspiration for me to see how little children can learn to love God,” she said.
George Chiplock Jr., principal of Corpus Christi School in Falls Church, referred to Hanley as a “true professional in every sense of the word.
“She has an outstanding rapport with the parent population — an open-door kind of policy where she’s accessible,” he said.
Hanley said that while at Corpus Christi, she has watched parents come back to the Church through their children’s education. When their children say a Hail Mary or grace before meals, their parents are reminded of the importance of their faith, she said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing parents learn as their children learn. Many of them have gone back to church.”
Hanley added that watching the children learn about the Church also has strengthened her own faith.
“It’s been a very rewarding experience.”

Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.