Lillian Martin guides children toward success

It was a love for children and experiences in her own background that called Lillian Martin Rush to begin a career at Head Start that ended up lasting 29 years.

Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.

"[Head Start serves children] 3 to 5 years of age, including special-needs children," says Martin Rush.

Martin Rush was born in Blytheville, Ark., in 1946. She moved to Chicago when she was around 10 years old and spent her youth in the Windy City.

Children at Head Start in Cape Girardeau surround Lillian Martin for a photo. (Laura Simon)

She moved to Cape Girardeau in 1969 and obtained an associate degree in child care guidance from Southeast Missouri State University. She worked as a secretary for the American Federation of Teachers and did data entry work for Brunswick bowling balls before beginning her long career at Head Start.

Martin Rush's first job with Head Start was as a home-based educator.

"I went into the homes of low-income families and families with special-needs children and showed them activities that they could do with the children using materials they already had in their homes," she says.

In 1986, she became a Head Start classroom teacher's assistant and in 1988, she became a classroom teacher for the program.

"[As well as] teaching in the classroom, we would have meetings with [the children[']s] parents and talk to them about getting involved with their child's education," says Martin Rush. "We would also help them to look at themselves and set goals [for things like their own] education and health [so that they could] give their families a better life."

I'Aria Blackmon, left, shares a laugh with Lillian Martin while working on a spelling exercise at Head Start in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

After teaching in the classroom for 13 years, Martin Rush was promoted to site manager at Head Start, where she helped train teachers, helped them obtain the education needed to teach in the classroom, and did various administrative duties.

"[In that role], I was also a mentor or coach for the teachers, and I would help them if they were having a specific [issue] with a student; I would try to see what was going on," she says.

After being the site manger for Head Start for three years, Martin Rush was called on to coordinate an Early Head Start Program for children prenatal to 3 years of age.

"It was the first [Early Head Start] program in this area," says Martin Rush. "We partnered with [several other agencies and organizations] and got the program off the ground."

The Early Head Start program, which focused on expectant parents, babies and toddlers, lasted for five years, ending in 2004. Martin Rush then returned to the position of site manger at Head Start, where she remained until she retired in September 2013.

In addition to her work with Head Start, Martin Rush also serves on the Success by 6 Leadership Team through the United Way of Southeast Missouri. Success by 6 promotes kindergarten readiness by providing books to low-income families and providing reading programs at the public library.

"[On the leadership team], I attend meetings and provide insight into the needs of the community," says Martin Rush.

Martin Rush is also an active member of the Lighthouse International Ministry Church in Cape Girardeau, where she is helping with a children's ministry program that the church is beginning.

"We want to reach out to children before they reach the age of 18 or 19," says Martin Rush. "Our goal is to reach children from ages 2 all the way to 18 or 19. I know how important it is to reach children in those first years."

Martin Rush was a Spirit of American nominee in 2013. The award, given annually by the Southeast Missourian newspaper, is an effort to spotlight those who have demonstrated a patriotic commitment to service, whether through the military or community involvement.

Martin Rush is married to Dewey Rush and has four children, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

She experienced episodes of domestic violence in her first marriage.

"[My oldest] daughter, Renesia Martin, wrote a book [on the subject of domestic violence] called 'Don't Hit My Mama'," says Martin Rush.

Her experience with domestic violence helped her to accept all the children involved in the Head Start program.

"We don't always know their pain or what struggles they have had when they come into the classroom, but we just let them know that they are loved, and that we want them to succeed, and that there is always a better way," she says.