Carol Joanne Herring, beloved teacher

CAROL Joanne Herring was the kind of person who could walk into a room of 10 strangers and leave with eight best friends.

"She was vivacious and outgoing," said her daughter Dara Herring. "She touched the lives of so many people around her."

Among those most influenced by Carol's love and dedication were the thousands of children she taught in nearly 20 years at the Francis Scott Key Elementary School, 8th and Wolf streets in South Philadelphia.

She played the piano for them, and carried pictures of some of them in her wallet, along with those of her own children. And the fact that some of her students called her "Mom" attests to the fact that she was more than just a teacher to a lot of them.

Carol Herring, who was popular not only with her students but also with their parents and fellow faculty members in the family-oriented school, died Friday of complications of cancer. She was 62 and lived in Roxborough.

She was also an amazing cook and loved to host family gatherings and other events. Her baked goods were so outstanding that her sister, Rose Herring, called her "Sara Lee" and "Betty Crocker."

"Her cooking ranged from gourmet to down-home-country fare," Rose said.

In the classroom, her students might have been aware of her love for them, but they also knew that she wouldn't take any nonsense.

"She was a tall, commanding presence," her sister said. "She was a disciplinarian. She made sure the kids behaved themselves."

Carol was born in Philadelphia to Jacob and Mary E. Herring. She graduated from West Philadelphia High School and received an education degree from Temple University.

She taught first grade at Key most of her career, then switched to fifth grade in later years. She was on sick leave when she died.

"She was constantly throwing parties for the kids," her daughter said. "Even after she became ill, she would send cupcakes to the substitute teacher to continue the parties."

In recent months, when she was unable to teach, pupils, parents and fellow teachers went to her home or to the hospital to visit her.

Carol sometimes took troubled or needy students into her home for a couple of days to give them the experience of a solid family atmosphere.

But Carol was modest about her influence on others.

"She never thought she made any kind of impression on the world," her daughter said. "She felt she had lived a small, insignificant life. I tried to make her realize how important she was to a lot of people."

"She was a wonderful woman," said Norris Eldridge, Key principal since 1992. "An outstanding teacher, friend and colleague. She was the kind of teacher you wanted to have in your school.

"She was never afraid of a challenge. She was a wonderful role model for her students, colleagues and parents. You have to love your job to be a good teacher, and she loved her job."

"She was a very loving person," fellow teacher Wilma de Sota said of Carol. "She had a relaxed manner about her. She never flew off the handle."

Wilma, who had known Carol since 1987, is also an excellent cook, and she and Carol used to exchange recipes.

"I liked her corn pudding and she liked my tortilla espanol," Wilma said. "She learned to make tortilla espanol and I made her corn pudding."

"We were very close. She was a good person. The whole school is in a funk."

Her sister, Rose, said Carol was "saddened by the state of the world. She saw a decline in the value of education. She said she felt her students had lost the light in their eyes."

Besides her daughter and sister, she is survived by her father, now 98; another daughter, Maya K. Herring, and a brother, Jacob Henry Herring.

Services: 11 a.m. Friday at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, 230 W. Coulter St. There will be no viewing. Interment will be private. *