SAN ANTONIO — It is often difficult to really grasp a good teacher's impact on a student's life until years later, and by then teachers are often gone and there is little opportunity to fully acknowledge them.

Luna Lucille Lindberg was one of those teachers whom people will talk about for generations. She was a selfless young teacher who dedicated the early years of her career to educating the young Mexican-American students in Edna who attended class in a segregated one-room schoolhouse, commonly referred to back then as the “Mexican School.”

On July 19, a historical marker will be unveiled, marking the location of the school and paying tribute to Lindberg in the tiny town, population 5,571, located near Victoria.

Victor Rodriguez, 82, a former classroom teacher who was superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District for 12 years starting in the 1980s, was one of her first pupils. He holds fond memories of her and has worked closely with the Jackson County Historical Commission to establish a state historical marker for the Edna Mexican School to commemorate the work of the young woman who served as its sole educator from 1933 to 1948.

Rodriguez, who retired in San Antonio, vividly recalls the blonde, blue-eyed 22-year-old driving up to his home in an old black Chevrolet the day after his family arrived into town and persuading his mom that all her children needed to enroll in school — including him. He was only 4 years old.

Back then, Rodriguez said, the “Mexican School” offered instruction only through the fourth grade; that was often the end of any formal education for the children of migrant workers who lived in the community. Mexican-American children were allowed to transfer to the “Anglo School,” but they had to repeat the fourth grade regardless of their academic standing.

Lindberg's name does not appear in any South Texas history books, but her contributions to education affected hundreds of children growing up in Edna during the Great Depression.

She was big on civic responsibility, and she assigned each child in her class a duty. In the third grade, Lindberg gave Rodriguez the responsibility of ringing the morning bell at the local Catholic church. He would wake up while most of the town was still sleeping and run barefooted the two miles to the church to ring the bell at 5 a.m.

The early morning runs and the dodging of the dogs he encountered served as good athletic training for Rodriguez, who went on to become an award-winning high school athlete in football and track. It was his athletic ability that allowed him to bring down some of the barriers that existed for Mexican-Americans in the Edna community at the time. It earned him college scholarships.

In his 2002 autobiography, appropriately titled the “The Bell Ringer,” Rodriguez tells the story of a restaurant owner who refused to serve his football team after a Friday night out-of-town game because the restaurant did not serve Mexicans. Rodriguez was the only non-Anglo in the group. His teammates took a vote, walked out and found another place to eat.

It is difficult to imagine a time in the not-so-distant past when Mexican-Americans had to attend separate schools, were banned from restaurants, had designated seating in movie theaters and were not allowed to serve on juries.

I would hope future generations harbor that same disbelief when someone relates stories about the inequitable public school funding system that existed in our state at the beginning of the new millennium.