Tuttle Teacher Reunites With Her Old Teacher 43 Years Later

Jennifer DeWitt, a teacher at Tuttle Public Schools, was recently reunited with her 4th grade teacher after 43 years, thanks to the help of social media.  

“Miss Ogle was a teacher that really invested in me, she taught me about choices and attitude.” 

Decades later Dewitt was desperately trying to find Pam Ogle. 

Her search started after she graduated from college. She wanted to share that Ogle had inspired her career as a teacher. 

“I just wanted to look her in the face and tell her that she was my difference maker,” said Dewitt. “I had a lot of teachers, but she was my difference maker.” 

Years later she decided to use social media, posting a photo and letter Ogle wrote forty-three years ago. 

Within a few hours of posting, a woman on Facebook reached out and said "Well, that's actually me," said Ogle. The two made a plan to meet. 

“She cried and cried again when she read the letter that she had written,” Dewitt. “She doesn’t remember writing it but it’s so important to me all these years I kept it.”  

Dewitt said that memories from her fourth-grade class that have kept her pushing through hard times like the pandemic. 

“Teaching is hard, we wonder as teachers the things that we say, and model do they really impact our students,” Dewitt said. “When I read her letter, I remembered that teachers do make a difference for a long time.” 

Now Dewitt is inspiring others to become teachers. Including her own daughter. 

“I shared with her to show how teachers really have an impact when it might not feel like it.”