Retired Tennessee teacher Glenda Akin, 84, has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest-serving female teacher at the same school, following more than six decades of uninterrupted service.
Akin spent 61 years and 43 days at Westmoreland High School, where she worked first as a classroom teacher and later as a librarian before retiring last year.
“I loved my job. I didn’t mind getting up and going to school every day,” Akin said in an interview with As It Happens. With most of her family gone, she said the school community became her family.
Her teaching career began in 1963, months before the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and stretched across major social and technological changes in American education.
“That was the first big historic thing that came along in my teaching,” she recalled.
Over the years, Akin witnessed the introduction of computers in classrooms and the rise of smartphones among students. She believes mobile phones should be kept away during school hours.
“I think they would do well to put them away when they’re at school,” she said.
As a librarian, Akin also experienced growing debates over book bans in schools. While opposing inappropriate materials in libraries, she rejected censorship.
“I don’t think books should be banned,” she said, adding that no group should decide what others are allowed to read.
Her long service allowed her to teach multiple generations of students, including one who later returned as a teacher at the same school and retired 10 years before Akin did.
In a Facebook post, Westmoreland High School described her service as a “lifelong commitment to education” that shaped generations and left a lasting legacy.
Akin said she was surprised by the global attention the record attracted.
“I only expected the school community to see it,” she said. “But it went everywhere.”
Though retired, Akin remains active, volunteering in local and church libraries and participating in community activities.
“I’m not ready to sit down and give up yet,” she said. “I want to keep moving as long as I can.”
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