PACTOLUS — Generations of educators were honored Saturday at Yankee Hall Plantation, as members of Positive People In Action gathered for its eighth-annual banquet.

The affair honored those who have worked tirelessly in the education field and highlighted some of those veteran educators.

Positive People In Action Social Group is a nonprofit working to help the less fortunate in Martin, Pitt and Beaufort counties.

Patricia Moore, a 36-year veteran in education, delivered the keynote speech. Moore served in Martin County Schools as a reading specialist, assistant principal and principal before heading to schools such as UNC-Chapel Hill and Harvard. When she was asked speak at the event, she said it was a great way to sum up her entire education career.

“It’s like a summation. I had to have a personal reflection about what education means to me. It takes a whole village to have successful education. It takes home, school and community,” Moore said.

Dr. Norris Parker, principal of East End Elementary School in Martin County, began the event as the master of ceremony. He recognized and thanked each educator in the room.

“Scientists, doctors, lawyers. … Those people would not be where they are if it weren’t for the hard work of educators. The hard work of people just like yourselves,” Parker said.

The late Dr. George A. Hawkins Community Service Award was given to Judge Regina Parker. Parker dedicated her life to community service by being a part of many community organizations, including the Juvenile Crime and Prevention Committee and the Martin County Boys & Girls Club Committee, among others.

Moore then began an interactive speech with three simple questions: what is education, when does it start, and when does it end? She divvied out 10 notecards to audience members with a quote about education from some of the world’s well-known leaders. Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Albert Einstein and more were read aloud.

Moore then answered her first question by stressing that one should never stop learning.

“Be a lifelong learner. Education begins early, and it does not end. It does not end until you are dead,” she said with a laugh.

Moore said teaching children is an important job and emphasized that those children are the future.