Some people like their job. And then there’s Ruthie Nichols of Penacook.

“I can’t wait until the alarm goes off in the morning,” Nichols said, “so I can get ready for school.”

She’s worked in the Merrimack Valley School District for 33 years, both as a teacher and, in recent years, a paraprofessional. The bonds she’s formed with students and her deep passion for all things Merrimack Valley prompted her principal at the middle school, Brian Lynch, to nominate Nichols for Hometown Hero status.

Wrote Lynch, “Ruthie arrives early every day to greet all students and staff as they arrive. She knows all 475 students’ names. Ruthie attends every MVMS sporting event, drama production, and musical concert. She is a staple at these events and shares in the joy and triumphs of our student body.”

Nichols, who’s 72, said her years standing in front of a class teaching have taken a toll on her body, stopping her from attending as many middle and high school events as she once did.

“The last few years,” Nichols said, “my mobility has not been great. I’m there in spirit, but it’s not the same.”

Football was her favorite sporting event. Sometimes, she’d watch three innings of a baseball game at Rolfe Park, then catch the ending of the school’s lacrosse game, when it was also held at Rolfe.

She loved the school’s theatrical program, citing the fun she had watching “The Adams Family,” and her all-time favorite, “The Sound of Music.”

“I used to slip in and sit in the back and watch them rehearse,” Nichols said. “I spent Tuesdays there all day and I’d see the special needs kids and others. I miss them so much.”

They call her Miss Ruthie, whose presence is still felt among the student body, even with her reduced time enjoying after-school extracurricular activities.

For example, three years ago, when the pandemic forced schools to shut down and go remote, “Ms. Ruthie was devastated as she could no longer come to school and see students in person,” Lynch wrote. “In an effort to stay connected to the school and the community, she asked to come in to share a message with the students. ”

Said Nichols, “I gave YouTube messages during the pandemic, and that was the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life. This was talking to families with meaningful messages.”

Her message to the students? “I encouraged them to make good decisions,” Nichols said.

She said her household growing up lacked the love she needed at the time. She also mentioned living in Georgia, where she regularly heard racist views directed toward Black people, and said the KKK had a presence in the area.

Those experiences helped Nichols find God, walk in others’ shoes before judging, and feel empathy for others.

“I was the reading teacher,” Nichols said. “The KKK planted a bomb in a man’s car. It’s the way Black people were treated. They hated Black people with passion. Most students of mine were Black, and we would play checkers on a huge veranda. I loved my students.”

And for the past three decades, she’s loved her job, enough to look forward to the morning alarm.

“I always wanted to be a teacher, since I was a little girl,” Nichols said. “I can not see myself retiring, but I guess I will have to one day.”

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