Thuringer retiring after 35 years of tending to area youth

(Photo by Kris Todd) With photographs of her seven grandchildren hanging in the background, Pat Thuringer, 75, looks forward to retiring from the Spencer Family YMCA's child care center she's greeted youth at over the last 35 years. [Order this photo]

Of the two Pats who work at the Spencer Family YMCA Dvergsten Child Care Center, Pat Thuringer has been known as "Grandma Pat" for the 35 years she's worked with area tots in the building's daycare and child care centers. But Grandma Pat, who recently announced it's time for her to retire, plans to mark Thursday, May 28, as her last official day on the job. A retirement party honoring Thuringer will be held this Wednesday in the building.

"Needless to say, our center will not be the same," Becky LaBarre, executive director of the Spencer Family YMCA, said of Thuringer's approaching retirement.

The 75-year-old woman who is now working with the children of children she served years ago at the Spencer Family YMCA child care center is looking forward to being able to visit her children and grandchildren whenever she chooses for an extended amount of time and not worrying about having to return to work. But in her next breath, Thuringer admits she knows she'll miss being with the 3- to 5-year-old children who've occupied her days. So her plans are to continue visiting them after she retires.

"I dearly love to be with the children. I think that's what kept me coming back every year," she said. "And, I will miss the people I work with there. I will very much miss the whole Y and my co-workers."

While Thuringer has worked with young children wherever she's been needed at the Spencer Family YMCA over the years, she's recently worked part time with 3- to 5-year-old children in the Dvergsten Child Care Center three days each week. The grandmother smiled as she reported it's been nice to be greeted every morning upon her 7:30 a.m. arrival with hugs from many of the young children. They then invite her to color or play games with them. Yet others find a bit of extra security while sitting on Grandma Pat's lap for a few minutes.

The role of caretaker and teacher comes natural to Thuringer. Her 98-year-old mother, Angeline Behrend of Parkston, S.D. was a teacher. Thuringer, the eldest of seven children, pursued and received her two-year associate degree in education from the former Southern State Teachers College in Springfield, S.D. She then taught kindergarten and/or first grade students for five years -- four years in Scotland, S.D. and Freeman, S.D. and one year in Sioux City -- before serving as a stay-at-home mother.

Thuringer and her husband, Marvin, moved to Spencer from Sioux City in December 1973, when he was asked to open the Social Security office in town. She played volleyball and met a few new friends at the Spencer Family YMCA. Chuck Pletke, the organization's former executive director, convinced her to begin working at the YMCA's daycare center.

"When I first started doing this job, we didn't even have the (daylong) wraparound program with the preschool and all that, (which was initiated in 2000)," she reflected. "When I started at the Y, we just had daycare for the women who exercised there from 9 a.m. until noon and then from 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. And, all we babysat for were mothers who came to exercise. That's how it's changed. ... It's amazing how times have changed."

Of the infants, toddlers and young children currently served in the YMCA's Dvergsten Child Care Center addition, Thuringer said with a smile, "It's a hard job taking care of the children. You have to keep them busy all the time. They never run out of energy. I call them Energizer Bunnies; they just keep going and going and going. That's my description of a lot of them."

Thuringer, who was recognized by the Spencer Chamber of Commerce in early 2002 for her smile, for providing excellent customer service in her position, as well as making "kids smile and feel welcome" and creating a "very positive image" for the community, also taught the Scamper Camp and Little Rascals summer programs during her tenure at the Spencer Family YMCA.

The very active grandmother plans to volunteer at various places in Spencer, read to students at local elementary buildings, read, plant flowers, continue walking at the Spencer Family YMCA and add to her "honey-do" list during her approaching free time. Thuringer and her husband, who will celebrate 51 years of marriage this year, also look forward to visiting their three children and seven grandchilder: Tom Thuringer, of Arizona, claims grandson Aaron; Cathy Shea, of Bellevue, Neb., has granddaughters Kayla, Brenna and Aubrey; and Mark Thuringer, of Cedar Falls, has grandchildren Samantha, Elizabeth and Max.

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A come-and-go retirement coffee honoring Pat Thuringer, who has served young children at the Spencer Family YMCA for the last 35 years, will be held from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, at the Spencer Family YMCA, 1001 11th Ave. W., Spencer.