Ruth Gurtis, a retired longtime educator who served multiple terms on the Lee County Board of Education, died on Tuesday.
Gurtis was 92. She was a longtime physical education teacher with Lee County Schools, and served on the Lee County Board of Education from 1990 to 1994 and again from 1998 to 2006. She was the board’s chair from 1992 to 1994, and was named Lee County Schools’ Teacher of the Year in 1986-87 (The Rant is credibly told she was also named North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year, but couldn’t locate any confirmation online).
“She was a professional educator and a real asset to the school board because she had definite, strong opinions about how public education should be,” said former state Rep. Jimmy Love Sr., who served as the Lee County Board of Education’s attorney for 30 years.
Read the full obituary for Gurtis here.
Wow I remember Mrs. Gurtis. She was a gym teacher at McIver Elementary. She was definitely an asset. Fine educator old school. Wish we had more educators dedicated to the future.