Celebrate!

What: Thong Hy Huynh Awards presentation recognizing achievement in human and civil rights

When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Community Chambers, City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd.

To understand why Martha Beetley would receive the Thong Hy Huynh Lifetime Achievement Award from the city of Davis, one need look no further than her résumé.

It is a sheet of paper that shows, without question, a life’s work dedicated to some of society’s most at-risk children.

There was her first job, in the early 1970s, teaching Head Start in a church basement in South Central Los Angeles. From there she would move on to a concrete three-story urban school in East Los Angeles, where she would teach primary grades for three years. Then it was off to the Central Valley, where her focus would become the children of migrant farm workers.

Even when life brought her to Davis, to teach at West Davis Elementary School — before it became César Chávez Elementary — and later to become the reading specialist at North Davis Elementary School, it was still always those at-risk children, and their families, that she remained dedicated to helping.

She quietly paid for music lessons, sports, even outdoor education for students whose families couldn’t afford to. She set up brown-bag lunches with the Spanish-speaking moms, serving as a confidant to many.

She didn’t like to pull students out of class for extra reading instruction, especially the Latino children, so she had them come before school, and even fed them breakfast she brought from home.

“Her workday was longer than anyone’s,” says former North Davis Principal Judy Davis, who has known Beetley since they taught together back at WDE in the late 1980s.

“She was always looking out for any kid who had less than any other kids,” said Davis, who along with other North Davis staff, both past and present, nominated Beetley for the Huynh award.

Named for a Davis High student who was killed in a racially motivated attack on campus in 1983, the awards recognize achievements every year in the areas of human and civil rights.

They are areas in which Beetley undoubtedly shines, her colleagues said in their nomination letter.

“She takes her job as a reading specialist and expands it,” they wrote. “She is a voice for the voiceless.

“She translates at parent conferences and parent education events and makes frequent home visits. She is highly aware of the inequities that exist in our community and works tirelessly to provide opportunities for children who otherwise would not have participated, to be a part of sports, music lessons and outdoor education, often funding these experiences with her own dollars.”

Said North Davis parent Sara Johnson: “Martha tries to fill this huge, gaping hole that exists in our community between the countless, fabulous academic and extracurricular opportunities that abound in Davis and the many families that are unable to take advantage of them.”

And for all of that, the City Council on Tuesday will bestow on Beetley the Lifetime Achievement Award.

It’s an award she didn’t expect.

In fact, says Beetley, when she was first informed of the award, she said, “Surely you have the wrong person!”

“There are so many teachers who do everything I do and so much more,” she added.

But Beetley, her colleagues say, is a special case.

“She is a translator, social worker, counselor, mentor, friend and ally all rolled into one,” Johnson said. “I do not know of many people who work as hard as Martha to improve the quality of life for people in our community here in Davis.”

Added Davis: “There is no person more deserving.”

“A lot of people do wonderful things and show up in the newspaper and we know all about it, but what’s so special about Martha,” said Davis, “is she does everything behind the scenes.”

And her absence will be felt. Beetley is stepping down this month after a 40-year teaching career. Fortunately, she’s not really going anywhere.

Retiring from her position at North Davis will just free her up to do more of her favorite work, she says, particularly improving literacy by working with preschoolers.

Beetley has been volunteering for years at the Children’s Center on the Da Vinci Charter Academy campus, helping prepare the children there for success upon entering kindergarten.

Thanks to donations from the school district and the Soroptimists of Davis, books have been procured and Da Vinci students regularly come over to read to the children.

It’s been a great success, Beetley said.

“It’s really neat to see the growth,” she explained, adding that the program has made a difference in the lives of both the preschoolers and the high school students.

Retirement also will allow her more time to aid children far from home.

Since she visited Zanzibar, Tanzania, in 2006 as a volunteer for the International Reading Association, Beetley has been a driving force to help stock schools there with books. Just recently she was able to procure a two-year grant from the Davis Sunrise Rotary Club for the Zanzibar Book Project.

She also plans to do a little traveling with her husband, Tom Hagler, who beat her to retirement by two years. But first up is the big event of the summer: their son’s wedding.

Both sons, Andy and Chris, grew up in Davis and now live in the Bay Area.

Beetley and Hagler also plan to work on behalf of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

But leaving full-time teaching won’t be easy.

“I will miss the kids for sure,” she said last week, pausing to fight back the tears.

“The great thing about working with young kids is every day is a new day, a fresh start,” she said. “The potential is limitless and their spirit is infectious and motivating.”

“But as I told my staff, the kids I taught in Head Start are now 45 years old,” she laughed.

And so it’s time.

“People will miss her terribly,” Davis said. “Sometimes you don’t realize how much a person does for you until they’re not there any more. And she goes so far beyond what any human would expect of anyone else. She will be missed.”

Beetley and the other recipients of this year’s Huynh awards will be honored in a ceremony before Tuesday’s council meeting. The other honorees are: Anna Sturla and Henry Anker as young humanitarians; former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso for civil rights advocacy; the Davis Food Co-op for excellence in community involvement; and school board member Tim Taylor as public servant of the year.

— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at [email protected] or (530) 747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy

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Martha Beetley, reading specialist at North Davis Elementary School, plays a game with students, Sophia Gonzales, Gabriel Leonard-Herrera and Kaycee Cordodor, forefront. Not pictured is Oliver Mahoney. Beetley, who is retiring this year, will receive the Thong Hy Huynh Lifetime Achievement Award from the city of Davis. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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Martha Beetley, reading specialist at North Davis Elementary School, plays a game with students, from left, Sophia Gonzales, Gabriel Leonard-Herrera, Oliver Mahoney and Kaycee Cordodor. Beetley, who is retiring this year, will receive the Thong Hy Huynh Lifetime Achievement Award from the city of Davis. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

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