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This touching tale is one of pure invention: there is no Teddy Stoddard whose life was so changed by one special teacher who reached out to him, no Mrs. Thompson of rhinestone bracelet-wearing fame. This work of fiction was penned by Elizabeth Silance Ballard in 1974 and printed that year in HomeLife magazine, a Baptist family publication, where it was clearly labeled as fiction and presented as such, not as an account of a real-life personal experience. Although Ballard based some of the details on elements of her own life, she has expressed disappointment that her fictional work continues to be circulated as a true story: Schuller's personification of the tale is far from unusual: folks determined to make a point will often claim a closer relationship to a story than actually exists in an effort to get their message taken more seriously. Someone charmed by the Teddy Stoddard story will thus claim to actually know the teacher or the boy, although neither exists. Elizabeth Ungar (née Ballard) has come to see her story attributed to others. Those who do include the author's name along with the piece almost always get it wrong, with Elizabeth Silance Baynard proving to be a popular choice for this form of misattribution. Yet the name Ballard is key to how the fictional little boy (named Teddy Stallard in the original version) came by his name, and during his 2001 interview with the author, Dennis Roddy uncovered the backstory. A friend who was filling in as a Sunday School teacher received a gift of cheap perfume and a broken rhinestone bracelet from a grubby little boy one Christmas, and afterwards she told Elizabeth Ungar about it. Ungar combined this incident with one from her own childhood: her Christmas gift of hand-picked pecans to her long-ago elementary school teacher. The box of the pecans had caused the other children to laugh derisively, but the teacher soon quelled them with the announcement she was making fruitcakes and these nuts were exactly what she'd been lacking. Her teacher's compassionate response coupled with her friend's story formed the basis for the work of fiction we now know as Three Letters from Teddy. Teddy's last name came from this origin: The surname of the grandmother who urged young Elizabeth to bring pecans to her teacher (Stanley) was combined with the author's then surname (Ballard) to form Stallard. Paul Harvey read this story during his daily radio broadcast on April 4, 1998. The Teddy Stoddard story has also been turned into a glurgerific video. In different versions 5he child is variously named Teddy Stallart, Teddy Stoddard, Teddy Stoddart, or Teddy Stallard. Some versions in circulation conclude, For those of you who don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing. There is no Dr. Teddy (or Theodore) Stoddard working at the John Stoddard Cancer Center at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Moreover, that facility was named for John Stoddard, an engineer and real estate developer who donated money for the center. Can one special teacher make a lasting difference in the life of a child? Yes, absolutely. Our history books are filled with instances of precisely that. But those looking for a real-life example of the importance of teachers will have to look elsewhere than this story.
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