COSHOCTON – Carol Wears grew up wanting to be a schoolteacher. Life took a different path.
“My mother died when I was born,” she began, “so my sister and I were raised by our maternal grandparents. Our next-door neighbor was my second-grade teacher, and her husband was the principal, so I always thought I wanted to be a teacher, just like Mrs. Addy.”
Wears grew up in West Lafayette and graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1973.
“I was in the business program at Ridgewood,” she added, “so I went right to work at JCPenney straight out of high school.”
“When JCPenney closed,” she continued, “I lost my job and put my name on the sub list at Ridgewood.