Judy White is unforgettable. Particularly in the kindergarten world.

'You look very familiar,” they'll say. If they went to Tauranga South Kindergarten between 1976 and 1988 – chances are Judy taught them.

'It's happened a few times because of Tauranga South,” says Judy. 'It's very touching.”

Former pupil Lesley White, her daughter Jessie, 4, and Judy White checking out photos from Lesley's days at kindy. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

It's how she met her husband. They met at a ‘jazz junction'. He invited Judy to a picnic on Mount Main Beach to meet his sons.

'I know your son,” Judy said when she met him. 'He was at Tauranga South Kindergarten”. Now that ‘charming man' is Judy's husband and the ex-pupil is her step son.

Judy's seen many faces and shaped many little lives since graduating from Auckland Kindergarten Teaching College in December, 1964. But now she's retiring. Why? 'We'll I'm 70 next week.”

So as her 50 years of kindergarten teaching comes to an end, Judy can proudly say she's made her stamp in the world of playing, learning, growing children.

'I've certainly made my stamp on quite a few children too,” says Judy. 'It's been lovely to catch up with people over the years and just see how lovely they are when they're adults.

'Some children really do stand out and you always wonder what will happen to them as they grow older.”

Judy opened Tauranga South Kindergarten – now Gate Pa Kindergarten – in 1976. It was a unique school in the way it partnered with Tauranga Girls' College. 'We taught the girls child development,” says Judy. 'The girls would come over in twos or threes to observe the children.”

There for 12 years, Judy moved to Australia where she taught for 11 more years.

When returning to New Zealand in 2012, Judy was offered a job at Kid Country Early Learning Centre on Cambridge Rd. It was her final day there last Friday.

But she's still been popping in to read to the children. 'I just have to ease myself away,” says Judy. 'Some of the children are quite upset I'm leaving.”

Judy graduated from both kindergarten and primary teaching colleges. So why kindergarten?

'I've always loved children,” says Judy, who as a girl lined her dolls up, gave them a notepad and pen and pretended she was a teacher.

'I just find children fascinating and lovely to be with. I think at that age they're just completely themselves. They haven't been tainted by school. They're just natural and that's what I love about them.”

Fifty years of teaching and Judy's ready to put her books on the shelf. 'It's time to let it go,” she says.

Time to put her feet up, time to relax – and time to reminisce. A very, well deserved break.