There is nothing more special than the love shared between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
Ollie Archambault and Dr. Ashleigh Rankin share a special bond in so many ways. Not only does their story reflect when life gives you lemons, make lemonade but also do not ever underestimate the power of investing in others and the difference it can make.
Mrs. Archambault is a native of Wayne County. She grew up with her seven siblings - one of her sisters is Pearl Hansen. She attended Wayne country school District 57 and graduated from Wayne High School in 1963. All seven siblings are graduates of Wayne State College. Archambault graduated from the teacher’s program and moved to Arizona to pursue a career in education.
Archambault’s aunt and uncle lived in Florence, Arizona. Her uncle was the sheriff in Casa Grande County. She joined the posse reserve as a volunteer deputy while interviewing for teaching positions. For her first job interview she showed up in a sheriff’s car. The sheriff had alerted the school beforehand so not to cause anyone to become alarmed.
The superintendent, being overly excited to hire her, handed her an envelope with a contract. Archambault asked if he did not mind if she went inside to fill out an application first. She started off as a full-time substitute teacher making $20 a day. In the fall she started as a full-time teacher in the Casa Grande School District and continued for 42 years until retirement.
Archambault has a great love of teaching, especially the love of writing. She is well known for teaching students to draw, illustrate or write in a journal. She just wanted to inspire them to make a difference in their life.
Ashleigh is the first granddaughter. She grew up in the classroom watching her mother, a teacher, and of course, her grandmother, using their talents to enrich the lives of students. She was blessed to have such great role models leading to her to being very successful in life.
Archambault and a friend brainstormed together and along with the Reading Council of Central Arizona to organize the AYAC (Arizonia Young Author’s Conference). This conference was run by universities prior to Archambault taking over as the coordinator. She continued as the organizer for 20 years. The conference was held on a Saturday in the spring every year for first through six graders.
This was a specialty conference with over 35 authors and illustrators of children’s books in attendance. All schools from the entire state of Arizona were able to send one teacher and six students per group with over 1,000 students in attendance. Each student chosen had to author a story, take it through the writing process and have it ready to present during the conference.
The conference was set up with a keynote speaker and three break out sessions where they would have 24 students per author in individual groups. This was a once in a lifetime experience for each of the students in attendance. The chance to be involved with famous authors and illustrators was a dream come true for many students.
Rankin from an early age assisted her grandmother at the conference. She was able to volunteer, participate and she even brought her own group of students. All of her wonderful experiences and working beside her talented and inspiring grandmother led her to become an author and illustrator and own her publishing company - Monk Publishing.
Talented teachers have dreams of learning that the input they had on a student really made a difference in their life.
Archambault has met many people in her life who thanked her for what she had done to make such an impact in her community. Also, many remember being chosen to attend the conference and how such a wonderful, personal experience it was.
One day her husband was very ill and in the hospital. The nurse taking care of her husband told Archambault how thankful her family was for what she had done for them and her brother. The story is very sad. The nurse’s brother committed suicide at age 16 years old. Archambault taught her brother in the second grade. Her brother had a lot of struggles, and she taught him to journal his thoughts whether in words or pictures. By the fourth grade he had bloomed with writing. After his death, his family found his journals and were able to read all his thoughts. They conveyed that this was very healing for them and only because of what Archambault had done for her brother.
Archambault herself has dealt with many trials and is so thankful for her family. In the year of 2015, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. In 2017 she was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer. In 2018, after surgery and chemotherapy she soon found herself on her death bed. What was supposed to be a three-day turnaround after surgery ended up being two months with multiple complications. Her husband’s health was also failing at the same time.
In January of 2019, her sister, Pearl, traveled to Arizona and brought her back to Wayne. The physician told Pearl she would be lucky if she even made it to Albuquerque with her sister. Archambault’s daughter stayed to take care of her husband. Once she arrived in Nebraska she started her care in Omaha for her treatment.
Four days before her husband passed away in October, she was able to travel back to Arizona to spend time with him and renew their vows. They had her husband’s celebration of life on Dec. 20, 2019. This would have been her 50th anniversary.
For the last three years Ollie has been in remission and after visiting with the doctor she does not have to return for six months. Rankin and her husband have been staying with her great Aunt Pearl helping with the farm and assisting her grandmother.
While Archambault was on her death bed, she told her sister she had one regret. She always wished she had published her book.
Long ago Ollie had a wonderful experience in her second-grade classroom at Cottonwood School. At the time it occurred, she wrote notes about the adventure, hoping someday to publish a children’s book. Decades passed and this dream never happened.
Rankin graduated from college with her doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Throughout her grandmother’s cancer, they have been very close. She decided it was time to launch her dream of being a publisher and at the same time help her grandmother make her dream come true. She decided to convince her grandmother it was time to publish her book.
This fall the adventure started with Archambault dusting off the notes she had written long ago. The adventure took place in her classroom involving a real live cricket. The cricket arrived in another student’s pocket. The student had placed the cricket in a desk, but he quickly escaped and entered the first-grade classroom.
The book “Cricket in the Classroom” follows the exciting experience between the students and their new friend, Chico the cricket. The book also has great activities for students to follow and enrich their lives with writing and drawing.
The wonderful team of grandmother as author and granddaughter as illustrator published Archambault’s first book in December. Rankin made her grandmother’s dream come true while also making her book the first book published by her publishing company.
Archambault said the students she taught were the inspiration to write this book. She was also excited to be able to deliver her first book to all of her grandchildren for Christmas.
To read about the adventures of Chico the cricket, the book, “Cricket in the Classroom” is available for purchase on Amazon and all bookstores are able to order the book.
