NATCHEZ — After more than 50 years of teaching, Sister Kathleen Higgins is still amazed when she watches children learn.

Typically quiet and modest, Higgins’ eyes light up when she talks about the children she helps at Holy Family Learning Center.

“It is truly amazing to see them develop,” Higgins said.

Even though she no longer teaches for a living, Higgins can’t bear to leave the classroom.

A volunteer for the school since 2007, Higgins assists the kindergarten teachers at the Natchez learning center with everything from teaching religion to fostering students who need  a little push now and then.

“She is a real treasure,” school director Sister Bernadette McNamara said. “All her life she has been a fantastic teacher.”

Both McNamara and Higgins are members of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate, a congregation of nuns whose mission is to minister to the poor.

Higgins retired after 50 years of teaching primary students in San Antonio, Fort Worth and other cities across Texas. After retirement, Higgins decided to go where she saw a need.

“I was looking for a place to offer my services and I chose Holy Family,” Higgins said. “I felt like Natchez is where the greatest need is.”

Kindergarten teacher Faye Barnes says she is thankful Higgins decided to come to Natchez.

“She is always there to help whenever she can,” Barnes said. “She is there to take the burden off.”

Higgins teaches religion to Holy Family’s two kindergartens, Barnes said.

“She likes to have the children role play,” Barnes said. “She has them act out stories about how Jesus traveled on this earth.”

As much as she is appreciative of the classroom assistance, Barnes says there is one thing that Higgins provides that is invaluable.

“She reaches out to the children and lets them know that she is there for them, that she cares for them, that she loves them,” Barnes said. “It is that positive feeling, that I can only describe as spiritual, that lets the children know that they are loved and wanted.”

When she is not in the kindergarten classroom, Higgins also helps teach religion to public school students who go to Holy Family Catholic Church on Sundays.

“She is dedicated to the students, to the teachers and to the church,” Barnes said.

McNamara agreed.

“She volunteers every single day,” McNamara said. “She will not stay home.”