By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorWhen Warrenton resident Stan Shelton was growing up in rural Corning, Ark., his family pulled up stakes one day and moved to St. Louis. The year was 1956.In St. Louis, Shelton’s family lived in a series of apartments while he attended public schools. As the new kid in school, Shelton had a tough time adjusting to city life. “I was shy and had speech and reading problems,” he says.His problems got worse. In second grade his teachers wanted to hold him back a year. But before that could happen, the Sheltons moved again. This time to their very first home in Jennings.In St. Louis County, class sizes were much smaller. Shelton went from being in a class of 42 to a class of 20. The extra attention he received was a godsend. Jennings School District also employed speech and reading teachers who helped him catch up. “My parents did a wonderful thing for me by moving to Jennings,” he says.Shelton’s new third grade teacher thought she could help him. Mrs. Sanford was a single woman in her 60s. At the beginning of the year she told Stan’s parents, “Let’s see if he can do the work for the first six weeks, and if so, we will keep him in third grade.”Shelton says his third-grade teacher was the nicest teacher he ever had. “She worked with me not just those first six weeks, but the whole school year.”It was a life-changing event that Shelton said he will never forget.Shelton remembers that Mrs. Sanford always kept a large fern in her classroom. Today, every time Shelton sees a fern, he cannot but help think of the teacher who did so much to help him succeed.In the spirit of paying it back, the outspoken Shelton has started a tradition of bringing ferns to Warrenton elementary school classrooms.As he tells the teachers: “Maybe 50 years from now one of your students will look at a fern and say, ‘My third-grade teacher was the best teacher I ever had.’”Warrior Ridge Elementary Lead Administrative Assistant Courtney Hudson said that Shelton’s success story shows the impact teachers have on students. “Many times teachers don’t always get the recognition they deserve,” she said. “Mr. Shelton proves how valuable they can be.”

Chris Orlet Photo THANK YOU FOR TEACHERS — Stan Shelton presents Warrior Ridge Elementary School Principal Bobbie L. Russell with a fern on Tuesday. Shelton, whose own life was changed for the better by a third-grade teacher, has for the past three years given ferns to teachers to symbolize the way they can change a child's life.