Women's Tribute: Elizabeth Lott

Elizabeth Lott has been a teacher for 42 years, including for 33 years at Huntingdon High School. She’s the school librarian, cross country coach, personal finance teacher and ACT Prep instructor.

She was born in Paris to Charles Ray and Charlotte Jones and grew up in McKenzie.

Her father was a wholesale candy seller for C.H. Summers, and her mother worked in “every factory in McKenzie.”

Elizabeth graduated from McKenzie High School in 1979 and attended the University of Tennessee at Martin, where she majored in Early Childhood Education with an emphasis on Preschool Education. She then earned a Masters degree in Child Development and Family Relations.

In 1984, she married David Lott, and the two moved to Knoxville for David to attend veterinary school.

Elizabeth taught at Maynard Elementary for three years, then they moved to Huntingdon in 1987.

The school year began with Elizabeth still without a job. Luckily, when Kindergarten began at McKenzie Elementary, there were too many students, so the school created another class, pulling students from the others, and hired Elizabeth. She told The Banner, “Parents were not excited about that, but it worked.”

She was at MES until 1993, also teaching second grade, when she accepted the librarian position at HHS. During her time at MES, she had earned her library certification through Lambuth University.

Elizabeth said, “Going from elementary straight to high school, it was a shock that first day. And then I realized that they really weren’t any different.”

Her foray into athletics would come later. “When I was about 40, I decided I’d like to run. I started in the first 5K I ever did in McKenzie. Joel [Washburn, of The Banner] made my picture crossing the finish line, and I still have it in my house with the time, because that was monumental for me. It was always my goal at that time to get under 30 minutes.

I just enjoy how it makes me feel. I enjoy the freedom of being able to get out and do it, and it just gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish.

In 2012, a parent asked if Elizabeth might be interested in coaching cross country. “They talked me into it. The school board approved it, and so we started the team. It was very popular. We had a large number of children who ran. Most of the other teachers thought it would be a joke and that we’d never accomplish anything. But I just decided we were going to do that. It was pretty exciting. We’ve had pretty good teams since we started in 2012. All but three years we’ve had people qualify for state.”

Prior to taking up running, Elizabeth was admittedly not athletic. “No, I tried out for basketball my whole life, never made it. I played a little racquetball at Martin. Zero athletic ability. Anybody can run if I can do it. All it takes is being a little bit stubborn. Putting one foot in front of the other, and that’s it.”

She eventually pulled David into her new world. “He started running with me as well. Then we started kind of making a game of how many states we could go to and run. So we’ve been traveling. We pick a state and we go run a race. Some 5K, some 10K, some half-marathons, some marathons. During spring break, we’re going to do Tulsa, Oklahoma and then we’re going to do Washington state and Alaska this summer. So we’ll be up to 32 or 33 states.”

She and David participate in the charity races at St. Jude almost every year. “It’s just such a phenomenal event. It’s not about you. Nothing’s about you, about your time, your pace, your distance. Because when you run through St. Jude, it’s an emotional time.”

Elizabeth has run two marathons, one in Tupelo, Miss., and one in Savannah, Ga. “I’m pretty proud that I’ve done two. I don’t know if I ever have another one in me or not, because the training is just brutal. A marathon will crush your spirit if you’re not prepared. You can’t play around with a marathon. You better have your training done.”

No matter the distance, she said, “You have to run your own race. I’ve gotten slower, and it hurts my feelings. I used to run eight and a half minute miles, then nine and a half, and ten and a half, and now I’m at 11 and a half. And it hurts your soul, but it’s 11 and a half or nothing. You just have to pick your battles.”

She spoke about her choice of education as a career. “I thought about all the important people in my life who were teachers and some of the fantastic teachers I had. Mr. Terry Howell was my teacher one of the first years he taught school. Jimmy Hampton and Nancy Holland. Mr. Charles Pruneau was our band director. He believed in me.

“You could just go on for ages about people who made differences in our lives, and I kind of thought, maybe I could do that. I love going to school. People keep asking me when I’m going to retire. I just can’t imagine not getting up and going to work. I still like going to school. I still like kids. I get mad at them sometimes. And things have changed so much, with technology. When I started in the library, there wasn’t even a computer in the library and now look what’s happened in just a short period of time. And you just wonder what’s going to happen in the next few years. Are libraries still going to be around? Do people still see the value in libraries and reading? That’s challenging, to get children to read. I do have a core group of children that still read. I have incentives for them to try to get points. I still do Accelerated Reader. I don’t care if people think that’s juvenile or not, I still have that program at the school. And if you can get 500 points, I will take you to Oxford to my favorite bookstore, Square Books, and I’ll let you buy three books. And you can keep those books. That’s such a great event, to be able to go to a bookstore when you’re a reader. We just keep trying to push children into reading, that’s all we can do.”

Elizabeth spoke about the progress of women in her lifetime. “I think we have made strides. I’m pretty excited that we have made strides. When Mrs. Harris was running for president, I thought, how exciting that was, whether you’re for her or against her, that she and Hillary and those people have made the chance for women to be able to do that.”

She named some influential women in her life. “Diana Crawford, excellent teacher, always believed in all of her students, and she treated us with respect and kindness, and never seemed to pick favorites, and that’s always a good one. I try to remember that all the time from teachers that I saw treat everybody fairly. I want to do exactly the same thing, and that’s a great thing to pass on, if you love everybody.

“Sue Kelley taught at the primary school. I grew up in church with her and respected her so much. I saw how she treated others.

“I looked to those people, and I saw how to treat people and how not to treat people. I hope that I can remember those things and be kind to everybody. Sometimes that’s hard.

“My mother worked hard and she wanted me to always make the right choices and do the right things. I didn’t always do the right things and make the right choices, but of course she never gave up on me. She taught me so many good things, making me go to college and making me finish my degree, so I would have a better future than she had financially. She passed away last January; she was 91 years old. It was time for her to go, but I still miss her presence all the time.”

She shared her hope for women. “What I would like to say is that women just gotta take care of themselves. They gotta take control of their lives. They can’t let pettiness take over their life. They can’t worry about their wrinkles. We’re so consumed with our clothes and what people think of us, and we really need to be concerned more about how we take care of ourselves.

“I’m 64. I take a tiny little blood pressure medicine and that’s all I take. And I think it’s attributed to exercise. That’s what keeps me going, because I don’t want to sit down. I’m not ready to sit down yet, because when you sit down, it’s over, really, if you work, work, work and then don’t do anything. And it’s up to yourself, because anybody can do this, anybody can put on a pair of shoes and walk outside. You don’t have to run, but you can move. And you just take the worst day you have, and you put on your shoes and you go outside and you spend a few minutes outside, your whole day completely changes.”

Elizabeth and David have two children. Daughter Holly (Ward) is a nurse, and son Ben works for the state. The Lotts have four grandchildren.