A retired Tennessee educator has officially made history. Glenda Akin, 84, has been awarded a Guinness World Record as the longest serving female teacher at a single school after dedicating more than six decades to Westmoreland High School.
Before retiring last year, Akin worked at the school for 61 years and 43 days, first as a classroom teacher and later as a librarian. She said her love for the job kept her coming back year after year. “I didn’t mind getting up and going to school every day,” Akin shared, adding that the school community eventually became her family.
Her career spanned generations of students and enormous social and technological change. Akin began teaching in 1963 and witnessed the arrival of computers, smartphones, and major cultural shifts in education. She even taught a student who later returned to Westmoreland as a teacher and retired a decade before she did.
In recognition of her impact, Westmoreland High School named its library the Glenda Akin Library. The school praised her “lifelong commitment to education,” saying she shaped generations and left an unforgettable legacy.
Though surprised by the global attention her record received, Akin remains active in retirement. She volunteers at local and church libraries, plays bingo, and stays involved with her community. As she put it, she is not ready to slow down just yet and wants to keep moving as long as she can.
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