With the end of this school year she is retiring and leaving the region for Cincinnati, and then to Geneva, Switzerland.

A native of Arkansas, Clement relocated several times with her family, eventually ending up in Chicago. After high school, she attended Chicago's Teacher College and took a job teaching math and science in East Chicago for two years.

She left East Chicago and came to Gary's Locke School, where she worked as the librarian/media specialist. From Locke she took a job with the administration in staff development but after six years returned to Locke as a building facilitator.

“In all of the experiences I've had they've all tied together,” Clement said about her various positions during her 45-year career within the school corporation.

“At staff development I was responsible for training and staffing. As a building facilitator I was responsible for training staff and working with staff. My base comes from working in the media center, where I work with staff. So team work was a big part of my basic training,” she said.

During her time with the Gary Community School Corp., Clement found time to raise a family of three with her husband, earn a master's degree from Chicago's Teachers College in library science, pursue a career as a professional story teller, work as a part time librarian in the Gary Public Library and be active in a number of organizations in Gary.

In 2005 she made one more career move. When the school system transformed Duncan Elementary School into Frankie Woods McCullough Girls Academy, she applied for the position of the school's media specialist.

“The job I had was phased out and I had the option to come here to be a media specialist or go back into the classroom, really ending up where I started,” Clement said.

“It's been a good year,” she said of her year at the all-girls school. “I've really enjoyed this year. It's been great working with all of the girls.”

Clement and her husband will head to the Cincinnati area this summer to be closer their daughter, who is moving with the family to Switzerland. Her daughter is a vice president with Procter & Gamble Co. and she is being transferred to Europe. Mom will be along to help with the children.

She does not expect to have an uneventful retirement.

“Oh, I'll stay busy and be involved,” Clement said. “I plan on continuing as a story teller. I'm going to stay busy.”