Black History Month

Honoring Educator Zeola Germany Allston

As part of the honoring of Black History month, I wanted to share about a person from the education world who was also important to my family and my life.

Zeola Allston, her husband Tom, their two daughters, and two sons moved to the Stoneham, Massachusetts area a suburb outside of Boston in the 1970s when Mrs. Allston was hired as one of the first African-American teachers at the private Seventh-Day Adventist elementary/middle school which was part of the New England Memorial Hospital community in Stoneham, Massachusetts where my sisters, and later I, attended school. In a short time, the Allston family and our family became close, and Mrs. Allston became one of my mother’s closest friends.

Growing up in New England a young person would typically not refer to an adult by their first name, so it was not uncommon for close family friends to be allowed to call them “Aunt” or “Uncle”. and so, I always knew Mrs. Allston as “Aunt Zeola”.  We have always thought of the entire Allston family as part of our family. When I married my wife, Aunt Zeola came to our wedding and met my wife for the first time, she came up and gave her a big hug and said, “I am your new Aunt Zeola”. Thinking of that moment today still gives me a wonderful feeling because that is the heart of Zeola Allston.

Mrs. Allston is one of the most dynamic, upbeat, engaging, and inspiring individuals and educators you could ever meet. Mrs. Allston was a constant positive educator and lifelong learner. She took every opportunity to find teachable moments. While she taught for more than 36 years her students numbered far more than those from her classroom. Because any of us that knew Aunt Zeola became her students in one form or another. She broke down barriers while always honoring herself, her family, her community, her heritage, and her God.

God bless you Aunt Zeola!

Zeola Germany Allston Biography*

Mrs. Zeola Germany Allston, M.A., teacher-educator, a Seventh-day Adventist for many years, and a native of Birmingham, Alabama, has dedicated her life to the cause of Christian education.

Recipient of the Zapara Excellence in Teaching Award, 1989, Mrs. Allston’s career as an educator extends over a period of 36 years, 33 of which were dedicated to Christian education.

A specialist in elementary education, Mrs. Allston has served as Principal-Teacher, Oakwood Elementary school, Huntsville, Alabama; teacher,. Oakwood Academy; cooperating teacher, Oakwood College Education department; teacher, multigrade classroom; principal-teacher, Berea Seventh-day Adventist school, Boston, Massachusetts; Edgewood SDA in Stoneham, Massachusetts and in many other teaching positions. Mrs. Allston has also served as director of student activity, recruiter, dean of women, Oakwood College; director of inner-city programs, Metropolitan Boston SDA Church; director, Headstart program, Boston, Massachusetts; and assistant director, day care center, New England Memorial Sanitarium and Hospital, Stoneham, Massachusetts.

Mrs. Allston’s expertise in the field of Christian education is an invaluable contribution to the Adventist Church, Educational System and the committee which planned and developed this work. She has helped to give it the prominence which it hopes to achieve in the field of Seventh-day Adventist education.

A Star Gives Light Seventh-Day Adventist African-American Heritage Teacher’s Resource Guide. Office of Education Southern Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 1989.

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