Spotlight on Lyn Monteleone, written by Margaret Sharp
When we hear the word Magnolia, we often think of something beautiful, sweet and gentle. How fitting that the next person to be in the Spotlight was born in a town called Magnolia! Magnolia, Arkansas!
Yes, Lyn Monteleone comes to us in a roundabout way from that small town in Arkansas. As the oldest of four girls, Lynda Ketteringham moved around quite a bit as a child. Lyn’s father, an engineer in the oil field and then in the burgeoning space program, worked in numerous locations after leaving Magnolia.
Lyn attended schools in Shreveport, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and finally in Slidell. Here she asked her parents to please let her get to know her classmates and graduate with friends. And they did! Lyn is a proud graduate of Slidell High School, as were two of her sisters, Genie and Georgia.
After graduating from high school in 1966, Lyn attended Southeastern Louisiana College and lived in Cardinal Newman Hall. In 1968, she wound up on a blind date with a guy from Covington and his buddy Bill Brady. The blind date was Lennie Monteleone and the rest was history! Lyn and Lennie were married in 1969.
Together Lyn and Lennie raised two boys, Paul and Payton. Paul lives in Zachary and works as an account manager for the State Department of Education Community and Technical Schools and has two girls, Maddie, 15, and Sarah, 4. Payton is an assistant principal at Lee Road Jr High where his two children, Sophia, 11, and Luca, 8, attend school. This makes it very convenient for Lyn to carry out some of her grandmother duties at a school close to home in Lee Road.
While Lyn’s first job was babysitting at age 12, she has held a variety of positions throughout her career. After receiving a degree from Meadows Draughon Business College, Lyn worked at Slidell Memorial Hospital in Medical Records and as the administrative assistant to Johnny Bankston at the Agricultural Extension Service.
Eventually, she began working for St. Tammany Parish School System as secretary to Richard Tanner, para-professional at Covington Elementary, and then secretary at Covington High School for 18 years! After that, Sylvia Dunn needed her to help run Food Services, so she worked clerical in that department for six more years.
While Lyn is officially retired now, she is still working! She tries to follow a schedule with Mondays dedicated to volunteering at Monteleone Junior High. On Tuesdays, she works with the Student Assistance Team at Lee Road Junior High in the morning and does gardening there in the afternoon.
Wednesdays are devoted to the Master Gardening organization. She keeps Thursdays open for the St. Tammany Retiree School Employees Association where she is 1st Vice President-Membership, and on Fridays, she is often found substituting at Lee Road Jr High. This does not sound like the schedule of a retired person!
However, Lyn has carved out some time to do a few things for fun. She’s been on cruises to Alaska and Hawaii. She went on a Disney Cruise with her family and even was able to take a trip to Paris! She enjoys going to see the Christmas lights in Natchitoches.
And one of her favorite things to do was visit her grandmother’s family home on Tybee Island, Georgia. Her beloved grandmother was a school principal and a college teacher, so it seems Lyn was destined to live in a family of educators.
Lyn spends her small amount of free time these days tending her chickens, gardening, visiting her sister, and passing time with her old buddy Bill Brady and his wife Angela and friends Paula and Jim Fauntleroy.
When asked about her still busy schedule involved with the school system, Lyn replied, “I miss the family atmosphere. How can you step away from something that you love?!?”
