A tribute to a high school math teacher – Vickie Tart Burlington of Millbrook High

Being one year away from my 50th high school class reunion from Millbrook High, Raleigh, I was saddened to read the obituary of my fantastic high school Algebra II teacher Vickie Newton Tart Burlington, known back then as “Miss Tart.”

She was only 75 years old at her passing, so back when I had her in high school she may have been 25 or 26.

I have always remembered her these many years because she was wonderful in so many ways. She was smart, kind, beautiful and talented.

The obituary in the June 8th News and Observer (link) detailed her many accomplishments after she got married to Rev Hugh Burlington and left Millbrook, so I would like to share her earlier highlights.

I was a real math wonk in high school (and still am), and so naturally had a big crush my Miss Tart. Besides being a wonderful teacher, she:

• Was beautiful. I knew she was Miss Zebulon one year and I had heard she was first or second runner up in the Miss North Carolina beauty pageant.
• Was talented. She always played the piano for all the school musicals
• Had a great sense of humor. I used to draw cartoons for her that she enjoyed.
• And she was a pioneer! Back in the 1971 – 1972 school year, Miss Tart taught Millbrook High’s first computer science course. And naturally due to gender stereotypes in the early 1970s, the class had 18 boys and 1 girl.

The first computer in 1971 at Millbrook High was a little terminal where you typed your program onto ticker tape and fed it through a reader.

I was very fortunate; I went to what was considered a “poor country school” at a time when the city schools in my county got most of the funding and nice facilities (now in Wake County, North Carolina the city and county schools are merged into one), yet I had several outstanding dedicated teachers who provided me an excellent education. Just to name a few: Mrs. Pollard and Mrs. Burleson for English, Mrs. Bumgarner for World History, Mrs. McGrady for both advanced French and US History, Miss Pate for Geometry and Yearbook, Mrs. Tyner for Chemistry, Mr. Carter for Advance Math, Mrs. Efird for Biology and Coach Capps for Physics. (Yes, some coaches do teach advanced topics.) And of course the lovely Miss Tart was at the top of my list.