‘Eccentric’ middle school teacher leaves one of a kind legacy

If you walked into Janie Beale’s classroom at Pizitz Middle School, you may have thought you had walked into a zoo.

Beale, an avid animal lover, didn’t hesitate to show her animals off to her students, including her pet birds and other small creatures.

“She was eccentric,” said Tom Callahan, who was an assistant principal at Pizitz during Beale’s time there, from 2003-14.

“Her classroom looked like a menagerie.”

It was one of many unique traits that set Beale apart, endearing her to students and teachers alike.

Beale died Aug. 17 at the age of 70 after battling cancer.

Callahan, who also taught with Beale at Gresham Middle School, said Beale had the biggest heart of any educator he’s ever known.

“She could sense which ones [students] needed love, which one may have needed food,” Callahan said. “She really took care of those kids.”

Beale lived in and traveled in the U.S. and France as part of a military family, according to her obituary. Callahan said she described herself as “Cajun and Korean.”

Beale’s nephew, Chris Cassidy, said she was “always the eccentric one” in the family, and made sure to support him and her other family members, despite not always living nearby.

“She was always the aunt you were excited to have in town for Christmas,” Cassidy said.

When Cassidy moved to Montana, Beale came to visit, and volunteered at the Wolf Recovery Project. She also made sure, Cassidy said, to send gifts to Cassidy’s son.

Beale was compassionate toward others, and spent time helping her neighbors.

After tornadoes hit Cahaba Heights, where Beale lived, in 2011, Beale made meals and helped take care of the elderly in the area, Callahan said.

She taught at Cahaba Heights School from 1977-91, back when Cahaba Heights was independent of Vestavia Hills. She then taught at Gresham Middle School in 2003 before moving to Pizitz after Cahaba Heights was annexed into Vestavia.

Hands-on projects were a large part of Beale’s classes, from creating “cell cakes,” where students used candy and other food items to make cakes that resembled the inside of a cell, to making “expert journals,” where students researched various science topics.

“It was, ‘Let’s go play in the creek,’ or, ‘Let’s look at this live animal in its habitat,’” Callahan said.

Linda Spain, a sixth-grade math teacher at Pizitz, shared classes as a teaching partner with Beale at Gresham in the early ’90s and later reunited with her at Pizitz.

Spain said she remembers always hanging out with Beale in the hall between classes and that Beale “reached out to the underdog.”

“She just really … got kids,” Spain said. “She really understood where they were coming from.”

Beyond educating the students, Spain said Beale taught her how to better love children, and to be discerning and reach those students who need extra help.

Cassidy said his aunt “found her passion” in teaching, and “spent a lifetime making kids feel special.”

At Beale’s funeral service, teachers from all over came to celebrate Beale and her life, he said.

Although Beale never had children of her own, Callahan said that didn’t stop her from making a family during her time in Vestavia Hills City Schools.

“She said, ‘All of y’all are my kids.’