Counselor Retires After 27 Years at Struble

This is one in a series of stories on employees of the Bensalem School District who retired this year after being hired there in the 1970s.

A lot has changed for guidance counselors since 1984 when June Horton started her job at Russell C. Struble Elementary School.

And now a lot will change for Horton, as she has retired from a district she has worked for since 1976.

“Kids and family situations have changed. Back when I first started, there were a lot more intact families,” she said.

“We didn't have any Internet issues,” she added with a laugh. “They didn't have cellphones and MySpace pages to deal with. Society itself has changed. Kids are much more socially conscious and socially aware. Things are more complex, and we have to have more resources at our fingertips to direct families to outside resources.”

Horton started her career with the Bensalem district as a teacher at the now-closed Armstrong Middle School. In her tenth year there, she was a counselor, filling in for an employee on sabbatical.

“When I was done doing that I said, “Ooh I really like this. And the kids kept coming to me (afterward). That was my signal that that was where I was destined to be.”

And recently she got another signal at Struble, where she has worked continuously for 27 years.

“I had a grandchild of a student I taught at the middle school,” she said. “I always said that would be God's way of telling me I had been doing it too long.”

Nonetheless, Horton said retiring was an “extremely difficult” decision.

“Both of my children are out of school and my husband has been on disability for several years,” she said. “He's been waiting for me.”

Horton is looking forward to moving full time to the couple's home in the mountains. But that doesn't mean the 59 year old has gotten the educational environment entirely out of her system.

“I plan to volunteer at the elementary school up there. I'll still have my hand in education,” she said.

When asked about her feelings about Struble, Horton choked back tears and took a long breath before saying how much she'll miss her colleagues and students. Part of what makes Struble special, she said, is the fact that it is an open-space building where three to four classes can be held in one large, partitioned area

“Because of that atmosphere, people have to work very closely together and be flexible and be supportive of each other,” she said. “It's very kid-centered. It's a very positive environment. When people come in they comment on how fresh everything is and how the kids are well-behaved.

“We called ourselves a family and it truly is a family.”

“It's been a blast,” she added. “Bensalem has been good to me.”