Christine Falger has been teaching for 22 years and Joseph Falger has been teaching for 19 years.
Falgers
Christine Falger has been teaching chemistry for 22 years. Joseph Falger has been teaching math for 19 years.
Neither of the Falgers have wanted to do anything except teaching.
“This is what I wanted to do since second grade,” C. Falger said.
“Since ninth grade, I’ve always known I wanted to be a math teacher,” J. Falger
The Falgers met while working another job at a craft store.
“We worked at a craft store, called Ben Franklin Crafts, and we both worked there at the same time. I was already a teacher when we started dating [and] he was learning how to be a teacher, but I was already through the program and had a job. I just worked at the craft store part-time. I didn’t know who he was, my boss told me that someone named Thad was coming in for an interview, and he came in and he wasn’t Thad, so I yelled at him because he wasn’t who he was supposed to be, according to my boss,” C. Falger said.
“I thought she was overbearing, not knowing who I was and not knowing what was going on,” J. Falger said.
The Falgers spend their summer off with their daughter.
“We can spend a lot of time together, and we don’t have to plan time off. We can plan any activities with our daughter,” C. Falger said.
“We get to spend a lot of time with our daughter, and we can divide it up. Sometimes we do things together; sometimes we break off and do things separately. It just depends on what we have planned for that day or week. That’s the great part about it, it’s just the flexibility of never really having to be concerned about what’s happening on a specific day, other than the stuff we have planned,” J. Falger said.
The Falgers find that it isn’t easy being with each other all the time. However, things have changed a bit because of the new B building.
“It takes a lot of patience. Now, it’s not so bad now that he’s in the other building, but he used to be legit right there, so I could hear him teaching, so it’s like I was legitimately spending all of my time with him,” C. Falger said.
“We don’t get any separation, because we ride to school together. She’s originally from Cresson; I’m originally from Altoona. But we live in Cresson so we’re not going to bring two cars down unless we have a reason to. So we’re in the car together to go to work, then we’re at work and we’re together, then we’re in the car on the way home, then we go home and we’re together. But now, with me being in the new building and her being over here [in the A building], I only see her in the morning and after school,” J. Falger said.
The Falgers express their frustration about being seen by their students in public.
“We can’t make the assumption that everybody knows that we’re a couple in the same school teaching. The reality is that not every student really knows that so sometimes we’re out together somewhere and a student for Mrs. Falger will come up and say hello to her and not acknowledge me at all or visa-versa. A lot of them will acknowledge both of us but some don’t know we’re a couple,” J. Falger said.
Before J. Falger was moved to the new building, C. Falger enjoyed bothering him while he was teaching.
“I guess I really enjoyed bothering him while he was teaching, when he was over here. I would walk in all the time and interrupt him, and the kids would love it. And that’s the point, to make it funny. I think that’s what I enjoyed most, just being a pain in his ‘you-know-what,’” C. Falger said.
As much as they pick on each other, the Falgers still enjoy being around each other, and know they can rely on each other.
“If we need something, there’s someone else here. If we need to borrow supplies or we need something, we have another person that we’ll go to first rather than go to a colleague,” J. Falger said.
Sohmers
Patricia Sohmer has been teaching for 35 years, and Joseph Sohmer has been teaching for 28 years.
Patricia Sohmer has been teaching chemistry for 35 years. Joseph Sohmer has been teaching chemistry for 28 years.
P. Sohmer has always wanted to be a teacher. J. Sohmer had other options.
“I have no idea what I would have done if I didn’t become a teacher because this is all I’ve ever wanted to do,” P. Sohmer said.
“If I wasn’t a teacher, I probably would’ve worked in industry as a chemist,” J. Sohmer said.
The Sohmers met during a chemistry demonstration.
“In 1993, I was working for Juniata College’s Science in Motion Project, which is an outreach to local high schools. We reached out to all of the local high schools in Central Pennsylvania, Altoona being one of them. I was the chem van guy, so I brought instruments and equipment into the high schools and one of the places that I did a demonstration was Altoona High School. Down in what was then room S306, which was then Ms. Patty Logan’s room, I did demonstrations in her room for her class. I then asked my boss, ‘Hey, do you have her phone number?’ Back then there weren’t any cell phones, and when I called her house I got her mom on the phone. When I called a couple days later and said to her, ‘Hey, this is Joe Sohmer. Wait, do you know who this is?’ and she just said, ‘Nope.’ I told her who I was and asked her to dinner. We ate at the Olive Garden because I knew where it was. I thought she was cute,” J. Sohmer said.
“I didn’t remember him, but he was a very nice person. I thought he was gutsy for asking me out after I didn’t remember who he was,” P. Sohmer said.
The Sohmers keep themselves busy during the summer they have off together.
“We have pursued a lot of hobbies in the summer like canning, gardening, he does welding and we do some rehab in some places. We also fix up our house. We hike, white-water raft, camp, fish, kayak, anything outdoors,” P. Sohmer said
“We do a lot of camping without family so we have a lot of fun vacations where we are both off and don’t have to schedule anything,” J. Sohmer said.
The Sohmers enjoy their time together during the day.
“It’s nice to have someone heat up your lunch for you. Driving together is nice. He jokes that we are together all the time, but we pretty much are. We easily see each other once or twice a day between classes or in other instances. Our rooms are just right down the hall from each other. Sometimes we just stand at the door and wave. When our first daughter was born, I would come in during lunchtime when I was on maternity leave, so we got to spend time with our daughter here. She is now almost 24,” P. Sohmer said.
“While teaching in the same school, it’s good for us to be able to discuss what is going on in the classroom or with the administration. We have a common interest in what is going on inside the building. We also teach the same subject, so we can feed ideas off of each other on how to better present the material we are teaching,” J. Sohmer said.
P. Sohmer remembers the time they shared a classroom together.
“One year, we had to share a room. That was not a good idea. We asked to never share a room again because I like everything very orderly, and he doesn’t share the same philosophy in that way,” P. Sohmer said.
J. Sohmer remembers the times they combined their classes.
“We combined our classes and did a liquid nitrogen show for them. She does a lot of the background work for that, and I do the presenting,” J. Sohmer said.