Celebrating 50 Years in the Teaching Ministry: Honoring Cheryl Rawlins

For 50 years, Cheryl Rawlins has faithfully dedicated her life to Lutheran education, nurturing children academically, spiritually, and personally through a ministry rooted in love, compassion, and faith in Christ.

Born in Albany, California, and raised in Oakland, Cheryl grew up in a strong Lutheran home. Her father worked as a dry cleaner while her mother stayed home to care for the family. From first through eighth grade, Cheryl attended Redeemer Lutheran School in Oakland before continuing her education at Concordia High School and Junior College in Oakland, graduating from Concordia in Chicago with a degree in elementary education.

Teaching was a calling Cheryl discovered early in life. She fondly remembers loving “the smell of new crayons” and admiring her elementary school teachers as a child. Her experiences in the small, close-knit classrooms at Concordia Oakland helped nurture a passion for working with children and sharing God’s love through education.

Throughout her remarkable 50-year ministry, Cheryl served students in many different places across the country and beyond. Her teaching journey included schools in St. Louis, Michigan, California, and Hawaii. She taught at St. John’s in St. Louis, Grace Chapel in Saginaw, and Bellefontaine Neighbors in Missouri before moving to Hawaii, where she spent nine years teaching at schools in Ewa Beach and Wahiawa. She later returned to California to teach at Bethany in Menlo Park and eventually at Prince of Peace in Fremont, where she has taught fourth grade ever since.

Over the years, Cheryl taught a variety of grade levels and activities, including kindergarten and first grade while in Hawaii. Early in her career, at just 20 years old, she also coached eighth-grade boys’ basketball and directed children’s choirs.

When Cheryl speaks about teaching, her love for children and faith-based education becomes immediately clear. “I love seeing an idea take hold in a child’s mind,” she shared, describing those unforgettable “aha moments” every teacher treasures.

More importantly, Cheryl cherished the opportunity to remind children of their value in God’s eyes. She loved teaching students that they are God’s special creation — that He holds them in the palm of His hand, will never leave them, and loves them deeply.

For Cheryl, Lutheran schools provide something uniquely powerful: a Christ-centered community built on grace, prayer, and support. “Our schools are not perfect,” she reflected, “but our Savior is with us, and we can work through any situation because God is with us.”

She especially treasures the relationships built over the years with colleagues who became “dear friends” and truly felt like family.

Among Cheryl’s most impactful memories in ministry was a visit from a former student who had once been “quite a handful” in school. Years later, he returned as a worship leader at another church simply to thank her for helping lead him to Jesus. Moments like that — along with hearing parents say, “You made a difference for our family” — affirmed the eternal impact of her work.

Even as she celebrates this incredible milestone, Cheryl says she still feels she has much to offer and plans to continue teaching “as long as I keep enjoying what I do and feel that I am doing a good job.”

Teaching has become a family legacy as well. Both of Cheryl’s daughters now serve at Prince of Peace — one as a teacher’s aide and extended care director, and the other as a kindergarten teacher. Cheryl also delights in watching her grandson grow, now a sixth grader himself.

As Cheryl Rawlins celebrates 50 years in Lutheran education, her legacy is evident in the countless students, families, and fellow educators whose lives have been touched by her kindness, faith, encouragement, and unwavering devotion to Christ-centered teaching.