Retired teacher offering free books at ballpark

Anne-Marie Ohmsted has retired after a 35 year career of teaching elementary school at Guide Rock and Superior.

Ohmstede’s father was a school superintendent which led to the family making frequent moves when she was a child. When her father accepted the position of superintendent at Guide Rock, he was informed the schools would be closing in five years. Anne-Marie was a junior in high school at the time. That prediction was somewhat of an underestimate. She completed high school, earned her degree from what is now the University of Nebraska-Kearney and returned to teach at Guide Rock Elementary School for 16 years.

When the Guide Rock school closed, she accepted a teaching position at Superior where she has taught for the past 19 years.

Now retired, she looks forward to visiting with her three children and seven grandchildren. She is an avid gardener.

When Ohmstede retired, she realized she had several hundred books in her classroom which she had acquired over the years. She mentioned this to a friend and posed the question of how to best dispose of the collection. The friend suggested she donate them to students. She also suggested that youth baseball games would be an excellent venue for the venture. Anne-Marie plans to bring books to various t-ball, youth baseball and softball games over the course of the summer. She will make books available to interested readers. She plans on setting up an exchange program. If a student reads a book, they can exchange it for another book. Ohmstede wants to promote reading. This program is in addition to the summer reading program offered at the Superior Public Library. With Ohmstede’s help, readers can keep the books if they so choose.

If you have children involved with summer sports in Superior, look for Ohmstede at the games and blend sport and reading for the summer.