St. Matthew Lutheran school to honor veteran educator

St. Matthew Lutheran Church and School in Hawthorn Woods is celebrating the 37-year teaching career of Arlene Meyer Sunday, May 1.

Meyer will be recognized at both the 8 and 10:30 a.m. worship services, with a reception between the services.

She was baptized and confirmed at St. Matthew and attended church and school as a child. After graduating from Concordia College River Forest with a teaching degree, Meyer taught third grade at a Lutheran school in Bishop, Texas. After two years, she returned to Illinois.

She taught for 17 years at various Lutheran schools in the Chicago area before arriving at St. Matthew, where she taught from 1997 to 2016. Over the years, Meyer has taught first through sixth grades as a classroom teacher, K-8th grade art, science, and social studies.

She has been a principal at schools for a total of six years. She has directed many plays at St. Matthew Lutheran School, the last of which is "Cinderella," to be presented by St. Matthew's students May 19.