The end of the 2014 school year marks the completion of Mrs. Greimann’s 25 year teaching career, the last eight of which have been spent at Ames High as a Level 1 Resource Teacher.

Greimann arrived at Ames High in 2005, after she and her husband made the decision to move from Los Angeles.

Tragedy struck in December of 2005 when, just four months after moving to Ames, her

husband, Malcolm, died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

“That was a horrible, horrible time in my life,” Greimann said. “It was a very hard decision to make about [staying] in Ames.”

Her decision to stay was based upon conversations that she and her late husband, a pastor, shared before the move.

“One of the things we talked about a lot was [that] if we do make the move, it will be because we have a strong sense of what pastors term the ‘Call.’ I had that still in my mind after Malcolm died.”

Of course, starting over in an unfamiliar town is not an easy task to accomplish, even less so when one is on her own. Thankfully, Greimann was not alone.

“I needed to find a job, I needed to eventually move out of the house that we had bought…lots of things going on. I did have the support of our congregation, which is Collegiate Presbyterian. I had also started substitute teaching here at Ames High School, and I was eventually offered a position here as a special-ed teacher,” Greimann said.

Greimann has found both struggle and reward in more than eight years at her job.

“A lot of my work can be a grind,” Greimann said. “There’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of stuff we have to do, hoops to jump through. I understand with these kids how they can get discouraged, but at the end, it’s worth it. The rewarding parts of [my] job outweigh the more difficult or the more mundane parts of it that you go home gritting your teeth about.”

Greimann is now remarried to a man whose first wife passed away just months after Malcolm suffered his fatal heart attack. The two helped each other through the grieving process and now live a happy life together.

They plan to enjoy retirement by “staying busy, but a different kind of busy.” They are involved in community service and take frequent trips around the world, including jaunts to Vietnam and Europe.

Retirement will also allow the couple to spend more time with their grandkids, whose homes are spread out among the U.S.
On behalf of the WEB staff and all of the students that have benefited from years of dedicated teaching, congratulations to Mrs. Greimann on this milestone in her life, and best wishes for the future.