Alumni Spotlight: J. Claudine Shankle — Class of 1970
My name is J. Claudine (Fisher) Shankle and I am a 1970 graduate of Pleasant View Schools. During my time at Pleasant View I participated in basketball, cheerleading, homecoming, FFA, annual staff, and being a class officer. During my time there I met my sweetheart Dub Shankle, after he moved into the community from Oklahoma and we dated for over three years before marrying in July, after my high school graduation. We have now been married for 56 years. I have lived in the Mulberry/Pleasant View community my whole life, and decided that after raising my children I wanted to go to college and become an elementary teacher. I graduated from the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville in 1990 and began teaching Kindergarten at Marvin Elementary School when Mrs. Aline Pope had to retire due to her health. During my time at Marvin I taught hundreds of students in grades Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 4th, and special education. I loved watching my students grow and learn. I had high expectations for them and believed that each one of them could do great things in life if they believed in themselves. I retired in 2011 after 23 ½ years in education. After retiring I worked for a time with NAEP, travelling to schools throughout the state setting norms for standardized testing in Science and Math. Our son Rusty graduated in 1992 from Pleasant View, and our daughter, Mindy graduated in 1994 from Mulberry. I am proud to say they are both currently working in education as well. I am also blessed with five grandchildren: Isaac, Mackenzie, Nikita, Keegan, and Autumn. My greatest joy besides my family has been worshipping at and being a member of the Mt. Zion Regular Baptist Church in the Pleasant View Community and serving the Lord. Through the years I have been fortunate to travel a lot and have been active in the community as a member of the Mulberry Lions Club, MPV Educational Foundation, and I love supporting the school district especially with pecan pies for pie auctions. These days besides spending lots of time walking, doing senior yoga at the Ozark Community Center, and working to take care of our beautiful home place along with my chickens and cow named Sarah, I love being out and about in the community seeing my friends and neighbors.
