Craig — After 39 years of teaching and directing preschool, Rosie Crosthwaite is retiring — and she received a host of emotional expressions of gratitude during Monday evening's preschool graduation ceremony at Eagles' Nest Preschool.

"I'm going to miss her a tremendous amount," said preschool director Angie Roberts, who described Crosthwaite as a strong source of teaching inspiration. "She's taught me what I know… She's given this community a lot of years with kids and grandkids and great grandkids."

Crosthwaite has taught at Eagle's Nest Preschool, a Christian-based preschool that operates in Calvary Baptist Church, for the past seven years. Before her tenure there, Crosthwaite served as the executive director of St. Mark's Preschool — and Roberts worked with her at that school, as well.

After the ceremony, Crosthwaite explained the way preschool has become increasingly important to children throughout the years.

"If a child doesn't have a preschool experience, it's tough for them to start to school," she said. "They need that group experience; they need to be in a situation where they're taking directions from another adult and learning how to function in a group setting."

She explained, too, what she described as her own God-given calling to teach preschool.

"It was just sort of presented to me," she said. "I didn't know that I could do it, and all of a sudden I was there."

And once she began working with preschool children, she was deeply drawn to their company.

"I liked the honesty of the children," she said with a chuckle. "What goes through their heads comes out their mouths. No pretentiousness. And they keep you laughing."

Contact Michael Neary at 970-875-1794 or mneary@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @CDP_Education.