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Brenda Rasberry
Brenda Rasberry grew up watching her father run a grocery store in Dublin. She always dreamed of working in education, and throughout a successful career as a business teacher, she found a way to merge her upbringing and her interests.
Rasberry graduated from Dublin High School in 1970. She went to Tarleton for a year and a half, and then moved out of Dublin to attend Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) in San Marcos. She graduated with her bachelors in education in 1973.
Her first job out of college was at an underfunded school in San Antonio teaching freshman English. The school had no air conditioning, and women who worked there were required to wear dresses.
In 1976, Rasberry transferred to a new school — ”This one had air conditioning, so that was a big plus,” she said — and stayed there for six years before moving to Oliver Wendell Holmes High School, where she would remain for the rest of her career.
At the new high school, Rasberry began teaching business classes, and found that she loved it. Her childhood experience watching her dad run the store had given her a foundation in the subject, and she took some business classes in college. Plus, she enjoyed teaching an elective. “If you teach an elective that kids want to be in, it’s a whole lot better than teaching something that’s required that they have to take,” she said.
Starting in 1982, Rasberry taught “every business class under the sun,” including shorthand, typing, entrepreneurship, general business and business communications, and worked her way up to department coordinator. In 1991, the school decided to start a business magnet school called the Business Careers High School, and she was uniquely prepared to help out.
Rasberry helped with the creation of the magnet school, as well as an initiative to provide all students with laptops. She also coached extracurriculars such as the Academic Decathlon and the Super Quiz. “It was terrifically exciting to see kids get so involved and so immersed in learning all that stuff,” she said.
In 1993, Rasberry went back to school part time to get her license as a certified public accountant, and then earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1999.
Her new training came in handy at school. “For 14 summers, I worked in the internal audit department for our school district,” she said. “That was an interesting job. We counted school buses; we counted lightbulbs in the maintenance warehouse; we counted canned peaches in the food service warehouse; and we counted mystery meat in the food service freezer.”
Finally, in 2012, after 39 years teaching, Rasberry retired. “Everybody kept saying, ‘Why don’t you go one more year to make it a nice round 40?’” Rasberry said. “And I said ‘No, 39 is round enough for me.”
Looking back, Rasberry is happy with the way her career turned out. “I always felt like teaching was what I was meant to do, and I really feel like I made a difference,” she said.
After retirement Rasberry built a house out near Bandera, and has spent her years since visiting friends and family, playing sports (she enjoys golf and pickleball) and traveling the US with her friends she met through teaching.
“We took a motorhome up the East Coast this summer and went through 23 states,” Rasberry said. “We’re all retired teachers, a bunch of old ladies, and we just get in and have a great time. I’m doing all the traveling I wasn’t able to do when I was working.”
Rasberry never married, and lives with her two dogs and two cats. She enjoys visiting family and friends in Dublin when she gets the chance. She hasn’t quit working entirely; Rasberry has an income tax business with around 100 clients, so she worked on their taxes for around four months out of the year. “That’s my traveling money,” she said.
Throughout her life, Rasberry has drawn inspiration from her parents. “My mom and dad worked hard their whole lives, and I never realized until I was grown how much they sacrificed so that my brother and I could enjoy new clothes and a college education and things like that,” she said. “They were my role models for my work ethic.”
Being a working woman in the 70s was a challenge for Rasberry, and it was that work ethic that carried her through. “Back then there were a lot of things women weren’t allowed to do, and I had to work harder than my colleagues and do things that were more visible just to be noticed,” she said. “I was very fortunate that I had good administrators my whole career that recognized how hard I worked, but sometimes I did have to do those two extra sets to get that department head job or whatever it was.” After her years of working in education and business, Rasberry offers the following practical advice for Dublin graduates: “Don’t lie on your resume, don’t steal from an employer, and don’t cheat on your income tax,” she said. “If you don’t do these things, you’ll be okay.” On a personal note, Rasberry emphasizes the importance of family ties. “I talk to somebody in my family every day,” she said. “It’s so important to keep family communication and not let miles keep you apart.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen. com.