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  • Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb (left) shares a story Friday at McKinley Elementary School on his tenure as a secret service agent. (Staff Photo by BONNIE VCULEK)

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January 25, 2013

Lamb makes visit to McKinley Elementary

By Phyllis Zorn, Staff Writer Enid News & Eagle

ENID, Okla. — As student at McKinley Elementary School, Todd Lamb had no idea what a lieutenant governor was, but he came back to his old grade school Friday morning to talk about the job he didn’t imagine then he’d someday have.

“I liked language, and I always liked spelling,” Lamb said of his grade-school days.

He struggled in mathematics, but loved sports, playing basketball and football and competing in track. One track and field event, though, narrowed his field.

“I threw the discus, and I, my coaches, and everybody who met me decided that I shouldn’t do that again,” Lamb said.

Band wasn’t his strength, either.

“I was in band for one day,” Lamb said.

Lamb choked up when he recounted the time his kindergarten teacher was working with her students to memorize their addresses. He was the last one in the class to master it, and when he finally did, the teacher hugged him.

He also recounted the time a teacher asked him to take a note upstairs to another teacher, and he did — walking up the stairs and then back down again through wet paint, leaving incriminating paint prints behind him.

The 48 students in Stacy Troxell and Brandie Case’s fifth-grade classes eagerly listened to Lamb, and had questions for him.

One asked what advice he had for them.

“Whatever you go after, go after with all your gusto,” Lamb said.

Expounding on the theme, Lamb used one of his favorite sayings about going after your dreams.

“If you’re going to go after Moby Dick, take along your tartar sauce,” he said.

Another student asked if Lamb has pets. He said he had them while growing up.

“My parents used to say they had three kids and five dogs, and they all went to McKinley,” Lamb said.

“If you could go back and change anything, what would you change?” one girl asked.

“I think I’d go back and be nicer to people,” Lamb said.

Lamb’s visit with the students was part of a mentoring program coordinated by retired accountant Stan Brownlee.

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