“Happy Mrs. Dr. Taylor Day.”

That’s what retiring Moore Elementary School Principal Martha Taylor said her students were wishing her as they came into school Friday morning.

"I know it's wrong," Taylor said, "and when they're in trouble they call me Dr. Taylor," but she said the students calling her "Mrs. Dr. Taylor trancends being their principal, to being a loving, caring person who touches their lives."

The school honored Taylor Friday with a program entitled “Dr. Martha Taylor’s Day,” of speakers and student presentations and performances. And, the Spalding County Board of Commissioners proclaimed May 25 as “Dr. Martha Smith-Taylor Day,” with Commission Chairman Gwen Flowers-Taylor presenting the proclamation Friday. The board voted unanimously to approve the proclamation at last Monday’s meeting.

The Moore Elementary principal is retiring after 32 years as an educator. She began her teaching career in 1973 at Henry County High School and has spent the last 12 years at Moore, where her leadership is credited with turning the school from failing to flourishing as a Title 1 School for the past 11 years.

At the ceremony held in the gym at A.Z. Kelsey Academy, School Board member Michael Kendall praised Taylor for “the magnificent job she has done for this community.”

Homer Daniel, on behalf of the Griffin Police Department, presented her with the Impact Award, for her community leadership, commitment to excellence and the development of future leaders.

Walker Cook, who hired Taylor “a long time ago” as a reading teacher, remembered when she came in to apply and told him she was a language arts teacher, which was why he said he chose to hire her. He said Taylor is “a Christian person, a reading teacher, a principal — she can do it all.”

“Really, y’all have been so lucky,” Cook told the gym full of students, parents, family, friends and community leaders. “I don’t know who’s taking her place but they’ve got a job (to do).”