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Josh and Heidi Antoncic arrived at Virginia Run Elementary School as new teachers in 1996. Three decades later, the married couple is preparing to leave the school together.
Josh began teaching physical education with a firm rule against dating coworkers and assumed he would not marry until around age 35. But Heidi was among the 18 teachers who joined Virginia Run that year, and the two eventually started dating.
During one date, Josh asked what Heidi expected from their relationship. She jokingly told him she wanted a ring on her desk Monday. When she arrived that morning, she found one made from construction paper.
The couple has now been married for 27 years. They recently celebrated their daughter’s college graduation and will retire after spending their entire 30-year teaching careers at Virginia Run.
Principal Dave Gerstner said their influence reflects both their relationship with each other and their enduring connection to the students and community they served.
A School Transformed
Virginia Run was a different place when the Antoncics started. The school had no internet or computers, Josh recalled, and only three telephone lines. Staff members sometimes had to wait for someone to finish a call before a line became available.
Heidi taught first and second grades for 27 years before moving to fourth grade for her final several years. As a new teacher, she concentrated heavily on curriculum, but she came to understand that building relationships with children was just as important.
Josh followed a similarly student-centered philosophy in the gym. He believed physical education should be the most enjoyable 30 minutes of a child’s day and made keeping it fun a priority throughout his career.
A mentor once advised him to reinvent himself every five years by changing schools or grade levels, coaching, or becoming an administrator. Josh stayed put instead, working in the same gym—with the same couches outside it—for all 30 years.
Time to Slow Down
Retirement will bring a change of pace for Josh, who became a physical education teacher partly because he disliked sitting still. He looks forward to visiting the couple’s daughter as she begins a job in South Carolina and to enjoying his morning coffee without rushing out of the house.
Heidi plans to read, take walks and simply pause after decades in the classroom. Both believe they are retiring at the right moment, leaving while they still love the work.
On their final day of school, Josh said, he will walk out with the same woman who walked in with him in 1996. He told Heidi that working beside his best friend had been a blessing and said he loved her.
“I love you right back,” she replied.