‘She is still here’ – Late teacher’s coworkers remember her legacy at West Rowan Middle
Published 12:10 am Sunday, October 13, 2024
Annick Dalton's laughter was described by co-workers as contagious. - Submitted
Flower bouquets adorn the rock in front of West Rowan Middle School honoring Annick Dalton, a sixth grade teacher that was killed in a car accident last weekend. - Chandler Inions
Keyotta Garris, left, and Annick Dalton, pause for a photo in the hallway at West Rowan Middle School. - Submitted
Annick Dalton, center, was known for always laughing. - Submitted
Annick Dalton, left, and Brandy Lloyd. - Submitted
West Rowan Middle School science teacher Annick Dalton. - Emily Nance
SALISBURY — Sixth-grade science teacher Annick Dalton was killed in a car wreck on I-85 last weekend, but her legacy is living on.
Throughout the week, students and staff at West Rowan Middle School have remembered a smiling face who brought joy into every room she entered.
“She cared about people — everybody all the time,” Assistant Principal Melissa Powers said. “It did not matter if you were her co-teacher, her mentor, one of her students or even just a student she came across in the hallway. She was about living and caring for people.”
Fellow sixth-grade teacher Brandy Lloyd said of Dalton that she was more like a family member than a colleague.
“Her spirit and presence was contagious,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd actually met Dalton when they were both students at West Rowan Middle School.
“She always told the story about how we first met,” Lloyd said. “I came plopping down in class. She always remembered me as this country girl (with a thick accent).”
That long-standing familiarity lent itself to some unique interactions.
“She was a shoe thrower,” Lloyd said. “We just had a relationship where if I said something that I maybe should not have she would take her shoe and throw it at me. We could check each other in a meeting. Some might think we were arguing, but that’s just how we got along. We are like sisters more than co-workers.”
Eighth grade science teacher Keyotta Garris developed a close friendship with Dalton, too. She remembers a person who was “dramatic” and “extra” in the best possible ways.
“I never saw her upset,” Garris said.
A’nya Hogue, who teaches sixth-grade social studies, described Dalton as someone who would stay on top of you.
“She loves you, but she will make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing,” Hogue said. “She will not lower her expectations for anybody. She can love you and still be on you. Her love isn’t going to baby you.”
Hogue also remembered a woman who, despite still being young, possessed an “old soul.”
“You can tell she hung out with her mom and grandmother a lot,” Hogue said. “She’d say things like, ‘I’m going to whip you into shape.'”
Hogue lamented that the first day back at West Rowan Middle without Dalton was very quiet, but taken in context, it made sense. Dalton had been there for almost a decade. Her presence was as much a part of the school as the bricks and mortar.
After news of her death broke, students began writing letters to Dalton’s family.
Sixth grade ELA teacher Kristen Hutton said that one of the student’s letters included that it “felt like a piece was missing” from the school.
Lloyd added that the students wrote a stack of letters to Dalton and her mother to tell how wonderful she was and to share the memories that they had with her.
“I have seen kids talking about their faith and her being in heaven and being an angel now,” Lloyd said. “It’s very powerful that we have kids (ages 10-14) writing the things they are.”
Dalton did not become an angel the day she died. She’d been one to her students and co-workers on earth.
“Her room was a safe space for kids in this building and adults, too,” Hutton said.
Powers said she loved “all people all the time,” and that she was “gracious, generous and kind to everyone.”
“It’s hard to think of someone who had more of an impact on this community than she did,” Powers said.
Co-worker Angell Dillard called her a “great friend.”
Former teaching partner Carmady Kruger said that Dalton was “probably the happiest person” that she have ever known.
“She was always smiling, always laughing and always positive,” Kruger said. “She was full of life. The students loved her. It’s a difficult loss for the students.”
Most importantly, it was not just what Dalton said but what she did that made a difference.
Corporal Robyn Cosgriff is the school resource officer at West Rowan Middle. Last week, she stumbled upon a memory that she believes encapsulates Dalton’s personna.
“She was teaching two classes in the media center,” Cosgriff said.
According to the SRO, Dalton was teaching the students how to “whisper yell,” an activity that reflected how she infused fun with learning.
“They were fully engaged with what she was teaching them,” Cosgriff said. “I don’t get to get into the classrooms to watch them teach, but I stepped into the media center and got lost in the lesson.”
Powers explained that Dalton was in the library that day because another teacher was absent. Upon hearing her colleague would not be there that day, Dalton volunteered to take their students, something the assistant principal said that she was always happy to do.
“She could teach a class of 5 or 100,” Powers said of Dalton.
As Powers put it, Dalton had a way of mingling with her students that removed any teacher-pupil barrier.
“When I went to her room to observe her, she was very petite. I would say, ‘Is your teacher in here,’ and she would just be working at a table with the students,” Powers said. “She was very hands on, not behind the desk lecturing them.”
Dalton was a major influence around the halls of West Rowan Middle, but she cared for her students long after they left.
Carol Young, an exceptional children’s teacher, said that Dalton would help students at West Rowan High School with college and scholarship applications in addition to serving as the Crosby Scholars liaison.
Powers said she also taught Sunday school and volunteered at Power Cross Ministries. Dalton’s faith was a powerful part of her life. Jennifer Davis, who oversees ISS, now shared a story from when she was a science teacher at West Rowan Middle during a period of extended remote teaching that reflected that.
“I was partnered with Ms. Harris teaching science,” Davis said. “We had seventh-grade science in our virtual classroom.”
Davis’ nieces were at the house where she was teaching and they were in sixth grade with Dalton, so multiple grade levels were going on at the same time, being broadcast into Davis’ living room. Well, her parents were trying to eat breakfast but before that her father was trying to say grace.
Dalton stopped her lesson during that breakfast for her parents, and they would all pray together.
A light in and out of the classroom, even during her off time at work, Dalton could be found dancing in the hallways and she was always prepared to serve as the Bulldogs mascot.
“If we had pep rallies, and the staff needed to do choreographed dances, she would organize that,” Lloyd said.
Many of Dalton’s coworkers met her upon coming on board at West Rowan and each one of them remembered the first time that they first interacted because of how approachable that she was.
Sixth-grade English language arts (ELA) teacher Kim Walton met Dalton this year.
“She was the first staff person to ask, ‘Who are you?'” Walton said.
They quickly hit it off, becoming fast friends, but that was just the way that Dalton handled herself.
Cosgriff added, “I was new here last year, and she came up to me just like this (put her finger on her chin). Then she gave me a hug and introduced herself to me.”
Since laughter provided the soundtrack for most of Dalton’s interactions, her co-workers said that they’ll always remember her laugh.
“Half the time, I still expect to hear it,” Hutton said.
Carson Davis, who teaches seventh grade social studies, said that laughter came in handy during more monotonous times of the work day.
“She kept us sane during professional development programs,” Davis said. “Her laughter, she would just make faces. She kept things light.
“On top of that, it was her hugs. It was a warm hug that made you feel like everything would be OK.”
Davis met Dalton last year, and as he acclimated to West Rowan Middle, she was there every step of the way.
“She was very helpful,” Davis said. “I taught science last year. She came to me every day to ask if I needed help.”
According to her colleagues, she did that with all of them.
“She came to check on me every single day to make sure I had my lesson plans together and to make sure my modules were created,” Garris said.
Victoria Moore also taught sixth-grade science. This school year was her first at West Rowan Middle. While officially, Dalton was not her mentor, Moore indicated that she served as a personal guide and that she made everything not feel so overwhelming.
“She will be greatly missed,” Moore said.
Moore mentioned that the day she died, Dalton had plans to attend multiple birthday parties, never missing a chance to celebrate friendships.
For Dalton, everyone became a friend, even family after getting to know her.
Karen Watkins teaches eighth grade science.
“She helped me out and saved me in 2021,” Watkins said. “She was my work niece, and I was her work auntie. She was a sweetheart. It is still so hard to believe. I look at that picture of her coming into the building. It’s not just a picture. She is still here.”
