Former Valhalla Elementary School teacher Mary-Alice Clarke Mackey was remembered briefly Tuesday at the Federal Way School Board meeting.

“I never heard her say a cross word to anybody,” Federal Way resident Len Englund said.

Mackey passed away on Oct. 8 in Hakodate, Japan, during a 65-day cruise through the Orient and Australia, according to a Seattle PI obituary.

Mackey, who taught fifth grade at Valhalla, was 86. Memorial services were held Oct. 25.