In 1978, Cindy Davis was a third-grader at Granite Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a particularly difficult school year for the kind little girl with thick wavy hair. Her mother had recently remarried and uprooted Cindy and her family to a brand new neighborhood and school.
Cindy didn't have many friends, so she spent most of her days feeling lonely and isolated from the other students. But then something unexpected happened. Cindy's third-grade teacher, Margarat Foote, took the shy little girl under her wing and became the support system she desperately needed at such a pivotal time in her life. For Cindy, Ms. Foote wasn't just a teacher, but a role model who she says saved her life.
"She was the reason I wanted to get up in the morning and go to school every day," Cindy told KSL.com.
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Nearly 40 years passed, and Cindy realized just how big Ms. Foote's imprint made on her life. She was the reason Cindy became a teacher herself. She was the reason Cindy became a principal. She was the reason Cindy now trains future teachers at a university.
Every year on her birthday, Cindy would always think of Ms. Foote as they shared the same birthday week. In 2017, she decided to go out on a limb and surprise her favorite teacher in the most incredible way. She didn't think Ms. Foote would remember her after four decades… but like all amazing teachers, Ms. Foote never forgot a face.
