There wasn't a seat to be had at St. Matthew AME Zion Church. The mayor, Doug Echols, gave her the key and a proclamation at a surprise ceremony at her home church. The former mayor, Betty Jo Rhea, was there, too, because she had known and worked with Gladys Boulware forever.

Boulware thought all the fuss was just because it was Mother's Day, and she had turned 96 on Friday.

"I was sweetly surprised," Boulware said of the ceremony. "I never expected a key to Rock Hill."

She shouldn't have been surprised. Her life is a key that unlocked the doors of a thousand minds.

You see, Gladys Boulware was a teacher. Home economics, all her adult life after finishing South Carolina State University in 1937, then teaching at Bettis Junior College in her home county of Edgefield. She came to Rock Hill because her late husband, Richard, a teacher and principal whom she met at S.C. State, was from Rock Hill.

From 1949 until Emmett Scott High closed in 1970, Boulware taught Rock Hill's black high schoolers what they needed to know. Her husband was a principal at West End Elementary School for black children. The name Boulware in Rock Hill meant education. Opportunity for somebody's kid, given by a lady who expected all her students to excel and succeed.

Look proper, act proper

Students knew that in her class, the proper way of doing things was always important. It was demanded. Students had to look proper and act proper.

"I taught so much more than cooking and sewing and canning, what we called food conservation," Boulware said. "I taught bachelor living. I taught how to choose china. Crystal. Silverware."

Gladys Boulware taught style.

After integration, Boulware went to Castle Heights Middle School, where she taught students of all races what they needed to know about home economics. She retired in 1974.

In that crowd Sunday, when Boulware received that key to the city, were dozens of former students. Some are retired themselves. There were doctors lawyers, teachers and principals. People came from as far as Detroit, New York and Connecticut. The former students were asked to stand up: More than 60 stood and clapped for a lady who helped unlock their doors.

"I knew my mother had a legacy, but this showed truly how many people's lives she touched," said Boulware's only child, Barbara Keith, who spent a life in teaching herself.

After retirement, Boulware spent almost two decades on the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. Cherry Park is part of her legacy, too. In 1995, she was given the city's volunteer award. At Glencairn Garden, there will be a bench with her name on it.

Yet, on Monday, the day after she received the key, this lady said she was leaving Rock Hill. She is leaving because her only daughter, who splits time between Nevada and Illinois, has convinced Boulware to move in with her and her husband.

At 96, Boulware is leaving that house at the far end of Saluda Street. I asked if she is wistful, melancholy.

"Of course not, I am ready to travel," Boulware said.

She stayed in Rock Hill 59 years. How many doors did Gladys Boulware open for others before she received her key to this city? It is immeasurable.