Retiring Principal Always a Class Act, Admirers Say

A long line of teachers, students and friends snaked outside a banquet room in Marina del Rey on Saturday, with some waiting nearly an hour to hug and greet Verna B. Dauterive.

After six decades with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the 78-year-old Dauterive was enjoying an outpouring of gratitude from people both young and old at a retirement luncheon at the Ritz Carlton.

“I’m so moved that I may have touched all these people’s lives,” said Dauterive, principal at Franklin Avenue Elementary School in Los Feliz since 1982. “I always remembered to keep focused on the students.”

About 300 people from the school, her church and her alma mater, USC, attended the event. Dozens spoke about how Dauterive changed their lives.

“She inspired me to become a teacher,” said Natha Lusk, 76. “She taught me everything I know.”

Lusk was a homemaker in 1961 when she met Dauterive at a doctor’s office. Dauterive was so impressed with how well Lusk’s daughter behaved that she told Lusk, “Anyone who can train a child that beautifully should be a teacher.”

Lusk earned a college degree, then spent 28 years as an educator, several in one of Dauterive’s schools.

“She would tell the children, ‘You can do it if you’re willing to work hard,’ ” Lusk said.

A native of Shreveport, La., Dauterive moved to L.A. to apply for a teaching position in the Los Angeles public school system in 1943 because she believed the district was more accepting of black teachers.

She became one of just four black teachers in the district at the time, though she said she never experienced outright racism in her schools.

Dauterive later earned degrees in education at USC, chaired the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and became active in the Republican Party.

During her career, she has seen the district grow dramatically and change from a majority white school system to one that’s largely Latino. Dauterive said she will never forget the excitement when World War II ended, or the grief on campus when President Kennedy was assassinated.

But her fondest memories will always be the first days of school for kindergarteners and graduation day for her eldest students.

“I really am going to miss it so much,” Dauterive said. “It has been my whole life.”

Some parents wondered what the school would do without Dauterive.

“It’s going to be an incredible loss when she leaves,” said Denise Kleen, whose son spent five years at Franklin Avenue Elementary. “That school works, and it works because of her.”

Kleen said she pulled her son out of private school after he struggled through first grade. She had heard about the quality of Franklin and enrolled her son. Soon after, he excelled and his grades were good enough for him to rank in the top 2% of his class.

“She would ask him to come into her office to encourage him,” said Kleen, 52.

Dauterive was also lauded for her elegance.

She looked resplendent Saturday, wearing a lime-green ensemble, a diamond necklace and diamond earrings.

Sydney Miyatake, a 22-year-old teacher’s assistant at Franklin Elementary, said Dauterive was soft-spoken but commanded a great deal of authority.

“The kids know from Day 1 that they can’t behave badly in the hallway or in the yard,” said Miyatake, who also attended the school as a student. “When the bell rings, she tells them to ‘stop, look and listen.’ ”

Another habit of Dauterive’s is playing a few notes on the xylophone before speaking on the intercom. “Then she always says, ‘Pardon the interruption,’ ” Miyatake said.

Dauterive did not have children with her late husband, Peter W. Dauterive, the founding president of Founders Savings & Loan Assn., which helped provide home loans for residents devastated by the 1965 Watts riots.

As a result, colleagues and parents say Dauterive poured her heart and soul into Franklin Elementary.

“This school was her child,” said Elisa Paolino-Dubois, whose daughter was a student. “She never missed an event. She understood the school system and she was a quintessential lady.”