Well respected Thackery retires from Lovell schools

Lovell middle school and high school teacher Alana Thackeray has ended her journey as a family and consumer sciences teacher after many years in the classroom.

She was born in Worland, and after a long process and ultimately deciding it was in her blood, she started down her path of teaching.

Thackeray initially went to Utah State for interior design, only to get there and find out there was no longer a program. She instead decided to become a home economist and chose household equipment and management.

When she finished, she started looking for jobs, but because of the recession at the time, there were none. So, she came home and started paying for her school loans. 

She later got assisted by a friend to go back to school at the University of Wyoming, but then met her husband, Dale Thackeray, and moved to California instead of finishing her schooling. 

They moved back to Lovell in 1994, and she waited until her youngest was in kindergarten and started substituting. She substituted in the district for 13 years.

Thackeray’s daughter, Amanda, was in FCCLA, and Thackeray always helped as a parent. She then took over in 2010. In 2012, she was encouraged, through being in FCCLA, to apply for a job at the school. 

She didn’t have a certificate to teach but Scott O’Tremba, the principal at the time, told her to go get it.

“So, I applied for the job and got the job, and for three years I did a program through Montana State University and got my degree so I could teach,” Thackeray said. “Teaching has always been in my blood; it just took a while to decide that that’s what I really wanted to do. But once I did, I really just have enjoyed it. It’s been a great 13 years of teaching kids and having that experience to touch their lives and help them to grow. It’s been a good ride.”

When asked about her post-retirement plans, she said her plans include lots of family time, many reunions, traveling with her husband and spending time in the mountains. Eventually, they would also like to serve a mission for their church.

Thackeray and her husband have four kids and six grandchildren, and they are excited to spend time with them: daughter Stephanie with two kids, son Grant with two, son Drew and daughter Amanda with two. She said they are very lucky to have them all living here in Lovell.

Thackeray is well respected at the schools.

“She has such a passion and enthusiasm for her classes and students, just such love for who and what she taught,” LHS principal Craig Lundberg said. “She is very well organized and could always be counted on in that way. She’s going to be missed.”

“When I first started at Lovell High School, she was a substitute teacher for my room. When she was hired as the FAC teacher, she took on a hard job at two schools and she took to managing two classrooms great,” LHS industrial technology teacher Bret George said.

George shared that, “Over the years we’ve worked very close in the CTE programs. I valued her opinions and insight, especially with the ever-changing landscape of public education.” He emotionally shared about her being a “very positive individual in what she said about people, and we will miss her. She will be hard to replace. We wish her the best in retirement.”

LHS business teacher Jode Kraft said that when she started, “Alana was my mentor teacher. I learned a lot about the school district and how to do things. She became a close friend that year.” Describing the kind of teacher Thackeray has been, Kraft added, “She’s a teacher that goes above and beyond in every single thing she does. She’s always been very organized. She has a passion for everything that she teaches, and she always makes sure her classes are interesting for students.

“FCCLA has been a passion of hers for a lot of years, and her FCCLA chapter has been very successful at the state level. She’s had students make it to the national level, as well.

“I know she really loves spending time with her family and her grandkids, so I’m excited for her, even though I’m going to miss her.”

Concluding her thoughts, Thackeray noted, “I’m just so excited for the new and upcoming things, although I will really miss teaching, especially FCCLA.”