A Christmas coincidence or what?

She saw the empty seat next to me, leaned in and asked, "I am 95 can I sit there?" We had arrived only 30 minutes early for church and it was packed. e.g. standing room only. We ended up sitting in a side room watching mass on a 60" wide screen with Silent Night piped in with below average speakers. We had saved too many seats so the seat next to me was open. She had on a brown print dress, covered by a heavy woolen coat, a brown walking cane was in her right hand and she clutched a sequin studded purse loosely  chained to her left hand. 

She explained she would only be sitting for a moment while her nephew found another seat for her family. That was not happening, so she sat next to me for the whole mass. She was attentive and exhibited a laconic touch of class. During the mass, she began to struggle with her coat. I asked if she needed help taking it off. She replied she did and I helped her off with her coat. She was thankful. Her nephew came over to her several times during mass, he did not look at me, but was very attentive to her. 

Several times during mass she struggled to stand and I helped her by a gentle lift to her arm. She was thankful. After communion, for some reason, she leaned over to  me and mentioned she used to live in Kansas City, Kansas near St. Peter's Cathedral. I offered that I knew that area and attended nearby Ward High School. At which point, she offered that she taught at Ward High School, from time to time, for 48 years from 1938 to 1980. 

I asked her, "Did you teach from 1956 to 1960?" She replied, "Yes, she taught English." She was the only teacher at Ward that was not a Nun. I remembered her and although she did not remember me- she did say I looked familiar- and she did remember several of my class mates.

Yes, you guessed it. She taught me English 55 years ago. What is the chance of that? If all things happen for a reason, then I am stumped to understand. A Christmas coincidence or what? Margaret Fay was her name. I hope I see her next year.