Last week on a small playground tucked next to the Presbyterian church, a small group of young students closely examined a snail and then scampered off to climb and swing. With them was their teacher, Sharon Farrell, who will retire this week after serving as a teacher at Creative Preschool for 37 years.

“There is never a dull moment. It’s never boring,” Farrell said in a recent interview. “I am fortunate to have a job I loved and enjoyed.”

The school, which has met all these years in the basement of the church, serves island children ages 2 to 5 years old. Farrell has taught there since 1975. Her own children went to school there, she said, and she first served on the board, substituting regularly. Then she was hired as the assistant teacher, and the lead teacher position followed.

“It is not something I set out to do,” she said, noting that the job changed the direction of her professional life, and she went on to earn her degree in early childhood education.

Throughout her tenure at the school, she said her approach with the children has stayed mostly the same, though she has more of a focus on certain social aspects.

“I pay more attention to emotional skills now,” she said. “It is important to learn how to cope and be self-confident and handle feelings. It is important to talk about them,” she said.

Farrell is quick to say she did not run the school on her own, but had help from many parents, several of whom served on the school’s board and handled administrative tasks.

“Any problem, they would take care of it,” she said. “There are some amazing parents on this island.”

With Farrell poised to leave, many of the parents who have had children in the school — or who were students there themselves — say they think Farrell is pretty amazing herself.

Tina Parrish, who sent her three sons to the school when they were small, served on the board for 10 years.

“I learned more about parenting from her than any parenting book or class,” she said.

Farrell is known for her calm demeanor, and Parrish said she often thinks of her in her own job as an assistant at the island’s French Preschool, Le Ouistiti.

“I try to channel her when I am talking with active, high-energy kids there,” she said with a laugh.

In recent years, Farrell has begun teaching children of former students, including Jamie Clapperton, who sends her two daughters there, with one attending the school again next year.

“She (Farrell) is incredibly patient and grounded and loving to all the kids. We thank her for this groundedness with different kinds of kids and personalities,” she said. “She finds a way to work through all of it with us.”

Alex Graham, now a father, went to school there as a young boy.

“It was a comforting place to be in. It was calm and soothing to be there. It always felt like an extension of home,” he said.

He recalls that in his high school graduating class, there were 20 or 25 kids who started out at Creative Preschool with him, and he and his wife sent their two children there as well.

“Sharon is just an amazing, tremendous woman,” he added.

As for the future, Farrell said she will continue her summer job of working part time at Dig, spend some time with her new grandson in Seattle and travel.

“It will be great to just go,” she said.

The school has hired a new lead teacher for the fall, Sara Bennett, who has a master’s of education and teacher’s certifications in elementary education and special education from the University of Washington, according to the preschool’s website.

“I am also excited about the new teacher,” Clapperton said, looking to both the future and past. “But I am thankful that both my kids got time there with Sharon.”