Even Google could not help Lucinda Martin find a former Jefferson Elementary teacher that left not only a memory, but also a poem on her wall that reminds her to read past the negative and shed light on the positive.

Her last hope — enter the public realm and offer her story to a local reporter.

What followed was a surprise to Martin. She found one of her lifelong role models.

“As time was passing, I figured nothing would happen,” said Martin.

Then, she was contacted by a reader who recognized the man behind a seeker story published several months ago in the Morton Times-News. That reader led Martin in the right direction.

Where it begins

It was the 1970s — Martin was in sixth grade at Jefferson School when she, along with the rest of the class, was required to remember a poem titled “The Heart is a Garden.”

She still vaguely remembered the poem, but it was not until recently when she found it at Morton Public Library. The poem now hangs in Martin’s flowered sunroom. Now, all she wanted was to find the teacher who asked her to remember it.

With a thoughtful reader’s information and a directory, Martin located her former teacher and sent a letter.

He replied. She now knows that teacher was Stanlee Kauffman.

Kauffman, 74, is now a Mennonite pastor — not a priest as previously noted — in West Virginia. He is married. He and his wife, who continues to teach, have a daughter who recently graduated high school.

Before teaching at Jefferson School for five years, Kauffman taught in Chicago. He later moved to the small town of Topeka, Ind., before ending up in West Virginia.

“It was an interesting school,” Kauffman said of Jefferson. “I just have pleasant memories from there.”

He still remembers the large gym with an open level above, and he can visualize the hallways and classrooms.

“I know it’s a landmark in Morton,” he said.

Just recently, Kauffman is beginning to realize that his teaching history had an impact on at least two students. A former student from Indiana contacted him just one month earlier than Martin.

“During that length of time, for these kids to contact me certainly must mean I had a profound impact on them,” Kauffman laughed. “For these kids to track me down and communicate is quite amazing.”

His teaching style was one that Martin remembered most.

“My philosophy of education included (teaching) civility and morality,” he said. “I taught that kids should be respectful to authority ... treat one another like they want to be treated.”

That is where the poem became a useful piece of literature for Kauffman.

“The poem (said) that you kind of reap what you sew in your mind. If you put bad thoughts in your mind, you’re liable to read bad actions. If you put good thoughts in your mind, you’re liable to read good actions,” said Kauffman.

He said he wanted to help students overcome childhood issues — minimize teasing and social clicks.

“That poem was kind of a reaction to that and part of my philosophy,” Kauffman said.

The inspiration continues. Along with replying with thoughtful memories of Martin in a letter, he included two of 12 books authored by his mother, Christmas Carol Kauffman.

“He’s touched a lot of people’s lives,” Martin said, adding she plans to continue writing and sending Kauffman Christmas cards.

“If I ever made it to West Virginia, yeah, I’d sure look him up.”