TEACHER'S CORNER: MEET LINDA RUDDY, TEACHER OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR THE ST. VINCE DE PAUL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN CAPE

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Linda Ruddy knows that physical activity is vital to one's physical and mental health.

As physical education teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School in Cape Girardeau, Ruddy teaches her students that what they learn in her class is worth practicing throughout their lives.

"I grew up in an environment that placed a lot of emphasis on good health and physical activity," Ruddy said. "My father was a professional football player."

Along with her parents, Ruddy's elementary physical education teacher helped influence her to become a teacher.

"I wanted to help children learn the importance of good physical health which is obtained partially through physical activity," she said.

"I love the look in a youngster's eyes when they succeed in a skill or activity that they felt was an impossibility."

Ruddy has taught at St. Vincent's for nine years. Prior to that, she taught in the Cape Girardeau Public Schools and a high school in Chicago, Ill.

She received her undergraduate degree from Millikin University, Decatur, Ill. and her graduate degree from Southeast Missouri State University.

She and her husband, Timothy F. Ruddy, have three children. Elizabeth is a senior at the University of Missouri, Columbia; Margaret is a sophomore at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa; and Fred is a senior at Cape Central High School.

In her spare time, Ruddy enjoys biking, tennis and swimming. She gives private tennis lessons and teaches swimming in the summer Kiwanis swim program.

Ruddy remembers one experience from her early days of teaching in Cape Girardeau.

"One of my students lived close to me," she said. "One Saturday afternoon our doorbell rang.

"My husband, Tim, answered the door. It was my student asking Tim if his wife could come out and play football with him."