FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nancy Anderson never set out to be a swimming instructor.
"I knew nothing about teaching, I read the manual, I reluctantly did it," she admitted. "I didn't want to do it because I didn't know how, but I did my best."
This year marks 50 years of teaching swimming lessons for Anderson. She estimates she has taught thousands of children in Williamson County over that time.
But around 2010, she nearly walked away from it all.
"Back in 2010, by then, I was getting just really really worn out and burned out of teaching," Anderson said.
Then a phone call changed everything.
"A frantic mother called me and explained how... her son had literally drowned in the pool and been revived," Anderson said.
That child was a young boy named Andrew. Anderson said the experience gave her a renewed sense of mission.
"I found that I had a new purpose," Anderson said. "My years of teaching swim lessons turned from a job that was fun and I made money to a mission of helping children learn to be safe in the water."
Anderson said she believes the moment was more than coincidence.
"I believe this totally that God had another plan for me," Anderson said.
Andrew, now in his 20s, was among the families who gathered to celebrate Anderson's 50th anniversary on Sunday at Fieldstone Farms in Franklin. She told him directly what his story meant to her.
"Your family is the reason I'm still teaching," Anderson said. "I mean it wasn't a good thing that happened to you, but it was something that God then instilled in me that I wasn't allowed to quit yet. I needed to re-focus and just keep going."
Over the decades, students have left Anderson with crayon drawings she still keeps.
"They're so special to me because the children are so special to me," Anderson said.
She said the emotional connection to her students has only deepened with time.
"And here I am, it seems with every year, the older I get, the more emotionally involved I become with the children and the more I love what I'm doing," Anderson said.
Looking back on a career that started with a single manual and a reluctant yes, Anderson has a message for her younger self.
"I wish I could tell my younger self what a thrilling ride this was going to be," Anderson said.
Anderson says she plans on teaching swim lessons again next year!
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