TOOL, Texas — In the tiny town of Tool, a lot of families live in poverty, but the students at Tool Elementary have found a treasure.
Every morning, Fran Sonka greets students with a hug, even showing up on her 94th birthday.
“This is really where God wants me to be,” Sonka said. “I have to be here every day.”
Miss Fran, as the kids call her, came to tool after retiring from her banking job in Dallas more than 30 years ago. From the moment she arrived, she heard something that bothered her.
“Every morning about six o’clock I’d hear the bus come through our neighborhood,” she said. “I thought that was too early for kiddos to have to come to school.”
At the time, the nearest school was a nearly two-hour bus ride round trip.
“These little kids didn’t need to ride the bus that far,” Sonka said. “I just prayed to the Lord for a school for our kiddos.”
She also got to work.
Determined to bring a school to Tool, Sonka joined city council, then became mayor and after years of persistence, finally got her wish.
Part of Malakoff ISD, when the school opened in 2007, Sonka was there giving hugs, just as she has been pretty much every day since.
“I have nobody down here to talk to. I live alone,” she said. “It’s just a comfort to me to see the smiling faces on the kiddos every morning. And they need to be loved.”
Likewise, principal Brandi Sutton said, for students, the morning hug is often the best part of the day.
“Sometimes these kids the only love and hug that they get all day long is Miss Fran at that door,” Sutton said.
That’s why students recently returned the favor by naming the school garden in Sonka’s honor.
Just as she nourishes them, the produce from Miss Fran’s Teaching Garden will largely help feed students’ families.
Still, Sonka didn’t fully comprehend their gratitude until one day, she stopped to ask a man for directions.
“He got out of the car, came running over and said, ‘are you Miss Fran,’” Sonka recalled. “’I remember you from fifth grade. You don’t know how you touched us.’”
Students today say nothing has changed.
“She is very nice, she is very sweet,” said fourth-grader Parker Van Gorder.
“It makes me happy,” first-grader Jax McCullough said.
“Sometimes when I’m having a bad day she makes it better,” said second-grader Avery Phillips.
Students said Sonka has made such an impact, they’ll never forget her. At least, not for a while.
“Like, until I’m in college,” Phillips said.
For more information on Miss Fran's Teaching Garden, visit her website here.