Ila Chapman was in line at a supermarket watching the cashier unpacking bags of groceries.

Soon she realized what had happened–the lady ahead of her had left her debit card in her son's car when he dropped her off, and she didn't have enough cash to pay her bill.

Chapman dipped into her wallet and handed the woman some money.

"What do you think you're doing?" she replied.

Chapman smiled and said, "I would appreciate it if you'd let me do my good deed for the day."

"But this is more money than I need."

The Good Samaritan told the lady she should have a little extra on hand just in case.

The cashier almost burst into tears.

For the past 15 years, Chapman, 56, has made it a mission in life to perform random acts of kindness, often anonymously.

While reflecting on her 35-year teaching career, which ended with her retirement last June from Nelson elementary, she said the good deeds sprang from a feeling that teachers are often under-appreciated. She decided everyone should have some positive reinforcement occasionally, so she set about making it happen, one person at a time.

She makes a point of approaching veterans and shaking their hands to thank them for helping make possible the freedoms we all enjoy. After a school field trip she's called the bus company to let them know how wonderfully nice and cheerful their driver was that day.

And for years she asked her students to write a positive thing about each kid in the class. Chapman took the lists home and collated them. When the children came into class, they'd spot the slips of paper on their desks.

"It sort of put them into a trance as they read it. The silence was deafening. They talked back and forth about it then they tucked it away in a safe place."

Ask Chapman how she came to decide on a teaching career and she's quick to answer: "Grade 1. Miss Robinson ... I was lucky enough to have Miss Robinson in Grade 3 to reaffirm I had made the right decision.

"She was kind and cheerful and treated us like you want to be treated. And I learned tons. She was easy to learn from."

Over her 35 years, Chapman taught Grade 6 and 7 at Sperling, Lakeview, Confederation Park, Gilpin, Rosser and Nelson elementaries. And while she always thought it was good to move every five years or so to have new experiences, her own primary school, Nelson, felt like home, and it was for her last 10 years of teaching.

She even ended up teaching out of the Grade 7 classroom where she was once a student. "That was strange. Oh my gosh, it's exactly the same."

Nelson is a "huge family" where staff look out for each other, helping out when someone loses a family member, taking care of little details.

"When my mom died I was just hanging on by a thread. For five weeks I never had to bring a lunch."

It was also a workplace where pranks came aplenty. For Chapman, it often involved her life-size cardboard cutout of James Dean, which was always being taken from her room, resurfacing the next day on the flagpole, a basketball hoop, and even flying past her window during class.

After a retirement bash with colleagues that included dancing until 1 a.m., she's ready to focus on husband Jim Appleby, 20-year-old son Justin, golf, volunteer work, her piano skills, gourmet cooking and helping out with the retired teachers association.

But she hasn't exactly let go, already spending time at Nelson ordering supplies for the coming school year and then showing the ropes to the head teacher who took her place. When she misses teaching so much she's going to cry, she thinks about the 14-hour days, meetings, report cards and the like which she doesn't miss at all.

One of her few regrets is never telling Miss Robinson how much she influenced her. She now aims to prevent any more regrets.

"If you love somebody, let them know. If somebody has done something to make you feel happy, let them know.

"It's a good way to live life."

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com