Seasoned Teacher, Advisor, and Mentor Señora Godfrey Will Be Missed By All

By Martha LeWand (IV)

After nineteen years of serving the Pingry community, seasoned teacher Señora Malla Godfrey is retiring.

After graduating from Syracuse in 1969, Sra. Godfrey started her teaching career at Milburn High School in Milburn, New Jersey. From there, she moved to Connecticut to teach at Low Heywood Thomas, a girls’ school in Stamford. After ten years, she left teaching to raise a family and start a business.  When she and her family moved back to New Jersey, her two daughters, Dana (’94) and Avery (’03), attended Pingry, while her son, Jason, decided not to be known as “the third daughter” and went to Morristown-Beard.

Sra. Godfrey became a teacher at Pingry in 1999, while her daughter Avery was a student. Since then, she has taught multiple levels of Spanish. This past year, she taught upper school students at levels 2/3 and 4. During her long tenure, Sra. Godfrey has been an advisor to not only her students, but to the ski team and Quiz Bowl.

Reflecting upon her time at Pingry, Sra. Godfrey credits all of her past and current students for having the most notable impact on her life.

“I love being with the students,” she noted. “Pingry has provided me with the opportunity to work with such amazing kids and help them accomplish their goals despite the stress.”

When asked about a favorite memory, Sra. Godfrey again emphasized the focus on the students.

“My goal as a teacher is to encourage kids to have fun learning,” she said. “Being with my students every day, sharing the good and bad times, seeing them smile from ear to ear when they accomplish something and not falling apart if they occasionally crash, —  all of that has motivated me to get up every day.”

She hopes to be back at Pingry as a substitute and visitor in the years to come!