2006 - Gerry Kohler

The Institute presented the 2006 National History Teacher of the Year Award to Gerry Kohler, a ninth grade US history teacher at VanDevender Junior High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia. During her twenty-seven-year career in education Mrs. Kohler has taught at both the elementary and secondary levels. She is the vice president of the Wood County Historical Preservation Society, among many other activities. With her students, she organized a Junior Historical Society that encourages students with an enthusiasm for history to help clean up and maintain two historic cemeteries in their community, and future projects include a Civil War campsite.