Teaching scholarship endowed at Northwest

Northwest Missouri University will offer a new scholarship in 2013 honoring the late Esther Forbes Knittl, a longtime Horace Mann Laboratory School teacher.

Knittl, who died in 2002, taught at the campus-based school for nearly 40 years after graduating from Northwest in 1938 with a degree in elementary education and minors in English, social science and physical education. She also held a master's degree in early learning education from the University of Missouri.

Her children, Karol Frederichs, Suzette Davis and Jim Knittl, endowed the scholarship and asked that it be awarded to students preparing for careers in the classroom.

"She was a passionate teacher and believer in education," Davis said. "Nothing made her happier than being in her fourth-grade Horace Mann classroom with her students and her student teachers. She loved it all, and especially teaching teachers to teach."

Knittl was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and her family moved to Maryville when she was a child. Her first teaching job was in a one-room schoolhouse south of Maryville.

"She walked 10 miles to the head of the school board’s farm and stood in his field as he worked to ask for that job," Davis said. "He gave her the job there and then, and she was responsible for everything at the school from teaching to tending to the horses the children traveled to school on, as well as cooking their lunch each day.

"Our mother loved Maryville and was always so proud to be associated with Northwest and Horace Mann. She loved teaching students, and she loved working with the student teachers at the school.”

Davis also recalled that her mother, thanks to family support, was able both to pursue a career and raise a family, an option not available to many women of her era.

something that was to Esther pursued her master’s degree and a busy teaching career while raising three children. Davis recalls her grandmother, Harriet Forbes, helping care for her and her siblings while their parents worked.

“With the loving support of our father, Erwin, and Grandma (Harriet Forbes), my mom was able to fully pursue her beloved career and make the difference that she did for so many,” Davis said. “It was unusual at that time for women to have that chance. You could have (a family or a career), but rarely both."

The $500 scholarship will be awarded annually to a Northwest junior or senior elementary education major. Considerations include academic achievement and financial need. Recipients will be chosen by a committee of Department of Professional Education faculty.