Planting Seeds: Pam Maret’s 50 Years of Nurturing the Next Generation at First Church of God Preschool

Some people set out to find a calling, but Red Bluff educator Pam Maret found hers quietly, almost by accident, when she was still a teenager. For the last 50 years, she has tried to stay true to that calling with every child who has walked into her classroom.

Circle time is a favorite part of the day for Pam and her students. The students take turns with different classroom jobs, including looking out the window and giving a weather report as the class weather forecaster. Photos by Kate Hiller.

Caring Mentors and High School Guidance Leads to Lifelong Career

Pam recalls the moment that a Red Bluff High School Work Experience teacher shaped her life. “He asked, ‘What would you like to be when you grow up?’ I was a junior at the time and answered, ‘I don’t know.’ He then pressed further by asking if there was anything I liked doing. I said, ‘I like being around kids.’”

That simple answer was enough for him to connect her with the children’s program at First Church of God before it was a preschool and more of an extension of Sunday school. There, Pam met Ruth Hickman, who directed the program at the time, along with fellow teachers Nancy Casey and Carolyn Barber. Under their care, Pam found far more than a part-time job.

“They didn’t only love and nurture the children,” Pam says. “They loved and nurtured me, too. They were so patient and kind with me.” Watching how Ruth, Nancy and Carolyn poured themselves into the children, and into her, planted a seed that would define the rest of Pam’s life. Inspired by their example, Pam enrolled at Shasta College and earned her degree in early childhood education. As soon as she graduated, she returned to First Church of God to work alongside the women who had first taken her under their wing, and what had started as a high school job quietly became her ministry.

In the Footsteps of Mentors

Pam married during those early years, and her husband, Bruce, understood from early on that her work at First Church of God was more than a job. “My work at the preschool helped when things got tight,” she says, “but I was grateful that Bruce made it possible for me to keep following this as a calling rather than a job. He said, ‘I want to support you so that you can continue your ministry at the school.’” That support has carried her through 50 years in the classroom. One by one, the women who had directed the program before her stepped aside, and people began urging Pam to take on the role herself. “I kept declining,” she admits. Eventually, she gave in, serving as director for 10 years – a role she says stretched her in the best ways. When the time came, she was glad to pass the position on to Amanda Eggleston, known to students as “Mrs. Eggs.” “I find my joy in being in the classroom with the children,” Pam says.

Peter is part of the second generation in his family to be nurtured in Pam’s class. With over 50 years in the classroom, it would be impossible to measure the impact Pam has made on the families in the Tehama County community.

Thoughtful, Compassionate Teaching Ripples through the Generations

That joy has rippled through the community for generations, including for the Gross family. Pam taught Jay and Mary Gross’s son and daughter, now 25 and 28, and currently she’s teaching their grandson. “Generations have come through her classroom, and she diligently finds out their individual learning styles and developmental needs,” Mary says. “She has been gracious and selfless and has blessed our family greatly. Thank you, Mrs. Maret! Your dedication and care have not gone unnoticed.”

This is the kind of impact that comes from treating a classroom as a ministry, something that shows up not in a single lesson, but in the life of a family across generations. Pam is often inspired by a quote sometimes attributed to C.S. Lewis: “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. In the end, the legacy that matters won’t be what you built in the world. It will be who you raised and whether they felt safe, seen and loved in your presence.”

Pam has seen that truth unfold again and again. “I believe children are perceptive enough to know when an adult isn’t fully present,” she says. “I make it a point to slow down, celebrate the seasons with the students and their families and keep a predictable structure that helps children feel safe.”

Families who’ve come through her classroom feel the difference. “I learned just as much as my children when Mrs. Maret was their teacher,” says Sonja Pieper, who went on to homeschool her own children after their years at First Church of God Preschool. “Mrs. Maret was a wealth of knowledge and I feel she set us all up for success during those early years. I could write a book about how wonderful she is.”

When she hears praise like that, Pam deflects it gently. “That could only be the Lord working through the gift of this calling,” she says, “and I hope to keep passing on the wonderful things that my mentors passed on to me.”

Fifty years, roughly 50 students a year and more than 2,000 children and families later, Pam’s ministry shows no signs of slowing down. She’s entering her 51st year at First Church of God Preschool. “The Lord set me on this path,” she says. “He hasn’t told me this chapter is over yet.”

What started as one teenager’s honest answer to a simple question, “I like being around kids,” has grown into a legacy of seeds planted, generation after generation.