BELLVILLE — Barb Hendrix was in her element.
Hundreds of students were spread out across the lawn in front of Bellville Elementary, rotating through Field Day stations. Little feet dribbled soccer balls, jumped rope and hopped towards the finish line of a potato sack race.
GALLERY: Field Day at Bellville Elementary
A DJ set up shop by the playground, blasting peppy pop songs as volunteers shepherded students through each activity.
Hendrix directed classes from the playground to the competition field and back inside. She beckoned a kindergarten class and a troop of fifth grade volunteers.
Bellville Elementary's beloved gym teacher crouched down to look a 6-year-old in the eyes and gestured toward an older student.
"This is my friend Olivia, she’s going to be helping you, OK?" she said in a reassuring yet matter-of-fact tone.
She turned towards Olivia, "Take them to soccer," she said.
Then, without missing a beat, she waved forward the next kindergarten/fifth grade duo and introduced them the same way. Over and over, she paired off students with assembly-line precision.
Hendrix was her typical self on Friday afternoon, navigating the Field Day chaos with ease and greeting children and adults alike with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
And yet, Hendrix admitted she was overwhelmed — not by running Field Day, but by knowing this would be her last one. After 34 years teaching in the district, she's retiring at the end of the school year.
“(Bellville Mayor) Teri Brenkus had a proclamation made, so I cried during that," she said. "Then they had pictures on the hill, I cried during that. Then we had a drone picture, I cried during that."
Hendrix, a resident of Ashland, has spent her entire career in the Clear Fork Valley. After a few years teaching special education and middle school math, she settled into the role of elementary gym teacher.
The kids at Bellville Elementary described Hendrix as nice and loving. Parents and colleagues complimented her genuine heart for kids.
“She remembers your kids," said Kristi Tipul, a mother of three. "She knows about them, even before you really even introduced them."
Hendrix is well known in the Valley for her good-natured teasing. Her favorite running gag is calling students by the names of their family members, whether it's a parent, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle or even the family dog.
Tiffany Mills was one of Hendrix's math students decades ago. Her children both attended Bellville Elementary.
“She knows everybody, she makes sure everybody feels welcome, she's always joking around with the kids,” she said. “She loves our kids like they're her own.”
Fifth grader Koen McGhee said Hendrix balances that care for students with high expectations.
“She knows you, so she knows where the bar is set," McGhee said. "And if you don't reach that standard, she's like, 'You could do better.'”
For five years, Hendrix taught physical education at both Bellville and Butler elementary schools. Field Days were smaller then, with just seven or eight activity stations.
“I didn’t know enough parents at that point," she said.
At Hendrix's final field day, there were 15 activity stations and 160 adult volunteers.
“I hand-pick who’s here and I trust who’s here," Hendrix said. "If there’s somebody here I don’t know, I will stop them and say ‘Who are you?’”
For Hendrix, Field Day is more than fun and games. It's a chance for the community to come together.
"You have councilmen here. You have the mayor here, you have the chief of police here," she said. "There is a lot of people that took a day off work to come and help. It takes a village to put on field day, I can’t do it by myself.”
Field Day is also a chance for kids to put their physical fitness skills to good use in a way they'll never forget.
Just like their colleagues in the classroom, P.E. teachers have state standards they have to teach throughout the year. Hendrix uses games as much as possible to check all the boxes, from hopping and skipping to offensive and defensive play.
But the most important thing Hendrix wants her students to learn is the importance of an active lifestyle, even if they don't go on to be an athlete.
“They need to know there are things in life to do other than football, wrestling, basketball, volleyball," she said.
That's not to say Hendrix isn't a fan of sports. Some of her most cherished career memories are from her time coaching the Colts.
"I coached for 15 years," she said. "Volleyball, basketball, softball, academic challenge, Odyssey of the Mind, Garden Club."
Hendrix blinked back tears. A little boy walked up to her.
"Thank you for the Pepsi," he chirped. "That's my favorite pop."
"You're welcome," Hendrix said. "Now go dance. They're doing the limbo."
For years, Hendrix saved up Coca Cola lids and purchased all the soda pop for field day out of her own pocket — enough for every student to have a can.
Buying Field Day refreshments isn't the only way Hendrix has gone above and beyond for her students.
When schools shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she gathered her post-card collection and sent one to each of her students.
Some of her students sent letters back.
- By Katie Ellington, Staff Reporter
“A fifth grader, she just wrote a humongous, long letter," Hendrix told Richland Source in May 2020.
"She’s devastated because she doesn’t get to say goodbye. She doesn't get to have Field Day. They don’t get to go on their fifth grade field trip. She just poured out her guts in this letter.”
For Hendrix, being there when a child needs to talk is an important part of the job.
"So many kids want to tell you stories and you have to listen because that's important to them," she said.
Hendrix is retiring so she can focus on caring for an aging parent. She and her mother already have big plans. They'll go to Cleveland Guardians games, hop on a couple of bus trips and take trips to Amish country.
“My goal is to read a book a week," she said.
The district has already hired her successor: Randall Jones, who currently teaches physical education at East Knox Elementary.
Jones has family ties in the area, including multiple relatives who were volunteering at Bellville's Field Day. Hendrix said she was glad the next gym teacher already has connections there.
"It stays in the community," she said.
Community, after all, is the best part of the job. It's what has kept her coming back year after year.
"Great kids, great support — it makes it fun going to work everyday," Hendrix said.
“It’s been my life. I tell everybody, I hang my hat in Ashland, but I hang my heart in the Valley.”