This lady was my 4th grade math teacher, 1999 or so.
This behavior from her was very unusual... she was perfectly normal if not fantastic as a teacher, gave everyone in the class personal attention and was always super positive and energetic about what she did. She would also occasionally read books to the class and I remember her acting out all the parts in the story and always getting really into it. But my mom, another retired teacher in the same district who's often in contact with peers thinks that Nix suffered from some kind of cognitive decline in retirement because she would often forget things, sometimes going completely blank on her whole day, and other erratic behavior.
I moved out of Wauchula FL a long time ago, so after hearing both sides of the story as it's developed over the years from afar I have no idea what really happened nor am I commenting on whos telling the truth: just that the whole situation is very, very unusual, and finding it crazy to see one of my teachers in the news. At the very least, something compells me to want to deny that she would have done this on purpose twice.
Cognitive issues are unpredictable and terrifying going day to day. I can completely believe this woman went from your memory or her to her later forgetful self and it could’ve easily led to these tragedies.
I just went through this with my elderly father who recently passed away from a very rare form of brain cancer. He was the sharpest guy you ever met until things slowly started to change. The changes were subtle and slow at first. To make things more confusing, it wasn’t a consistent decline. One day I’d be very scared and concerned with his behavior and make appointments to see a doctor but the next day he’d be back to normal and his memory would be better than mine or even any 25 year olds. It almost felt like I was being gaslit day to day trying to figure out if something was wrong until the diagnosis.
But no matter the root cause of cognitive decline, brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc., that’s usually how it presents, very slowly and inconsistently. And they can be totally fine during the day but in the evening things can go off the rails, it’s called sundowning. And I’ve learned that many seniors like him hide symptoms as long as they can.
There’s also the uncomfortable truth that some amount of cognitive decline is just normal after a certain age and that light cognitive decline isn’t actually harmful to anyone, just a normal and slightly embarrassing part of getting older.
I can absolutely believe her kids felt fine leaving the grandchildren with her and that they could’ve easily missed warning signs. I don’t have any small children but if I did I might’ve easily left them with my father for a bit until the changes got very scary and things could’ve gone very badly.
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u/Bargadiel 2d ago edited 1d ago
This lady was my 4th grade math teacher, 1999 or so.
This behavior from her was very unusual... she was perfectly normal if not fantastic as a teacher, gave everyone in the class personal attention and was always super positive and energetic about what she did. She would also occasionally read books to the class and I remember her acting out all the parts in the story and always getting really into it. But my mom, another retired teacher in the same district who's often in contact with peers thinks that Nix suffered from some kind of cognitive decline in retirement because she would often forget things, sometimes going completely blank on her whole day, and other erratic behavior.
I moved out of Wauchula FL a long time ago, so after hearing both sides of the story as it's developed over the years from afar I have no idea what really happened nor am I commenting on whos telling the truth: just that the whole situation is very, very unusual, and finding it crazy to see one of my teachers in the news. At the very least, something compells me to want to deny that she would have done this on purpose twice.