Galveston music teacher's love extends beyond the classroom

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- There are teachers you remember long after leaving their classroom.

Lois Rivaux is that kind of teacher.

She teaches music at Holy Family Catholic School in Galveston. Rivaux returned to the classroom a couple years ago after retiring from Galveston Independent School District after 15 years.

"I love to watch their faces light up when they get it, you know?" Rivaux said, surrounded by nearly 30 adoring children, who hang on to every word she says.

"You look ready to play, your smiles are on!" Rivaux said as she pressed play on the gray boom box. Happy music filled the room.

While Rivaux loves her nine to five, her calling to help kids goes well beyond these four walls.

"My first foster child came through the door and she was 15 and pregnant," Rivaux explained.

Over the past 15 years, this single mom has fostered nearly 100 children.

"I never dreamed that would be a possibility," she said.

Rivaux was divorced, in her fifties, with three grown biological children. But she didn't see that as a roadblock. She reached out to the Jamieson Children's Center in Houston and The Children's Center, Inc. Galveston and began working with children.

"People look at me and say, 'How do you do it, how do you do it?' The truth is, I don't think about it, I just do what needs to be done," Rivaux said.

Since she started fostering, she's adopted three of the children that have come to her home: Osiel, 6; Megan Pierson, 14; and Ariel Rivaux, 17.

Ariel became her son when he was five after being badly hurt in a bus explosion in Mexico. Burns cover 67 percent of his body.

"She's a good person. She puts up with countless foster kids," Ariel Rivaux said.

Kids have stayed with Rivaux anywhere from a few days to eight years. They're all ages and come from all backgrounds. They're all looking for the same thing: someone to love, respect and guide them.

"If I can give them any stability in their lives, that's my goal," Rivaux said.

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