If Judy Rider, director of the Methodist Church Preschool, had a
dollar for every child’s life she’s touched in the community for
the past 32 years, she’d be rolling in the dough.
If Judy Rider, director of the Methodist Church Preschool, had a dollar for every child’s life she’s touched in the community for the past 32 years, she’d be rolling in the dough. Instead of gaining riches, Rider has gained something else from the more than 3,300 students she’s helped educate – a wealth of memories.
“It surely isn’t the money,” she said. “It’s the love of the job and the love of the kids. When people ask when I’ll retire, I often tell them I’m working until they bury me in the sand box.”
Rider will receive a special honor this Saturday, May 22, at Bolado Park for more than three decades of dedication and leadership. Details about the event were not publicized because it’s a surprise, but the Rev. Ardyss Golden said part of the fun was inviting all the old students back to join in the celebration.
“She is almost always behind the scenes, so it’s great that we have this chance to honor her,” she said. “She is so well known, at almost any place in town, you’ll find someone whose child has known her.”
If they didn’t go to the Methodist Church Preschool, San Benito County residents may remember or know Rider now from the eight different community organizations she’s volunteered for over the years. Along with being on the Tres Pinos School District Board of Trustees, San Benito High School District Board of Trustees and the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce Board, Rider has also volunteered as a 4-H leader, helped out with Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball, Pop Warner Football, the volunteer firefighters and California U.S.A. Wrestling Association.
“She’s really a person who exemplifies the characteristics of a mentor and someone the community can look up to,” Golden said.
As preschool director, Rider has an office filled with student collages and old yearbooks upstairs, but it’s downstairs in the classroom where she spends most of her time.
“I have a great staff and I get to see all these beautiful children each day,” she said.
Teacher Barbara Kelso said Rider makes the staff and students at the school feel like one big family.
“It’s like working with family here,” she said. “She’s pretty amazing. Very loyal and very dedicated. She would give you the shirt off her back.”
When asked about her 32 years at the school, one particular memory stuck out in Rider’s mind. She said a young boy named Christopher Faraone, who passed away in 2002 because of a rare children’s cancer, spent the last two years of his life attending the school.
“It was really special that he got to spend his time here and have such a good time,” she said. “He’s like our own little angel up there.”
Another past student, Shelley Donati, has had the pleasure of not only being taught by Rider, but also working side by side with her on the San Benito High School District Board of Trustees.
“I think Judy really participates in the lives of her students and in the community,” she said. “She is dedicated to the students from preschool to high school and she’s always looking out for the kids’ best interests.”
Donati isn’t the first student Rider has watched grow into adulthood. SBHSD Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said she is extremely dedicated to education.
“This woman is so dedicated to the youth of the community,” she said. “She tracks them from preschool to high school. She’s just wonderful.”
