POULSBO — Sylvia Cauter was sitting across the table from an interview panel that included Sharon Ferguson, and she was intimidated.

Ferguson had a master’s in literature from UW, was head of North Kitsap High School’s English Department, started the school’s AP English program, and as drama coach had led thousands of students through numerous successful stage productions.

And now Cauter was sitting before Ferguson, interviewing for a job as a teacher. She was allayed by one of Ferguson’s questions.

Would she be interested in doing musicals?

About a year later, Cauter assisted with a production and got to know the real Ferguson: The veteran educator teared up watching the students audition. “The ink ran on her legal pad,” Cauter recalled. “She was a real softy. She was sensitive, loving, absolutely loved these kids. She would do anything for them.”

Ferguson’s son, Josh, estimates his mother taught more than 13,000 students from 1975 until she retired in 2003. He had his mom as a teacher in AP English 12. “She was a master teacher and, despite being my mother, she was one of the best teachers I ever had,” he said. “She didn’t teach as much as help people learn. She had high standards but she was not a task master.”

Josh said his mother required her students to write a “long, hard, college-level paper” at the course’s end; researching and writing that paper, many students say, “prepared them for college more so than anything else,” according to Josh.

Sharon Ferguson died in Poulsbo on Nov. 12. She was 69. A celebration of her life is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 9 in the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish. The celebration of life is open to the public.

She was born on Jan. 5, 1946 in San Diego, California. She grew up in Seattle, where she attended Mount Rainier High School and the University of Washington. She taught for a year in Australia, where Josh was born in 1973, then moved to North Kitsap and joined the school district here.

She directed 59 plays during her 28-year tenure at North Kitsap, and in retirement from 2003-09 volunteer-directed six or seven more, including “Tom Sawyer,” “Wizard of Oz,” and a play written by students for Poulsbo’s centennial.

Each stage production was a work of logistical wonder, Cauter said. Parents helped build sets and work on costumes and sell tickets, and Blue Sky Printing printed all of her flyers and programs. She found roles for students from the elementary school, building a farm club of actors.

Ferguson had no problem getting people involved. “They knew the quality of her performances,” Cauter said. And, “She wasn’t the type of director who took the spotlight. It was always on the kids.”

Ferguson was “equal parts caring, creative and structured,” Assistant Superintendent Christopher Willits said. “She loved working with students and creating wonderfully entertaining theatrical productions. But I know she helped her students develop the self-discipline necessary to be successful. She was a great teacher and is missed.”

One eccentricity: Ferguson had a plain green dress she wore to every production. She might add a different scarf or jewelry, but she wore that dress. Tradition or superstition? Well, one night she didn’t wear the dress, for one night of “The Music Man,” and “things didn’t go quite right,” Cauter recalled.

Ferguson’s alums include Josh Conkel, a Cornish College of the Arts grad who’s now a playwright in New York City; and Sylvie Davidson, a Knox College grad who’s a professional actor now playing the title role in “Emma” at the Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle.

Davidson was directed by Ferguson in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “The Music Man,” “Anything Goes,” “The Miracle Worker” (she played Annie Sullivan), and “The Sound of Music” (Maria).

“She had high expectations, but she had a way of conveying somehow they she wouldn’t have these expectations of you if she didn’t think you could do it,” Davidson said. “Her direction was very well-timed — there was a measure of her letting you explore, letting you gain confidence, and in learning you were retaining that work. When I went to college, a lot of it was recognizable, because I had discovered the roots of the techniques with her.”

Davidson said her older brother acted in “Guys and Dolls” his senior year, and she remembered going to his rehearsals. “I was so excited because I knew who Sharon Ferguson was,” she said.

Davidson said Ferguson was emotionally invested in her students and “continued to be  connected” after graduation. Ferguson saw her perform in “A Christmas Carol” at the ACT Theatre in Seattle, and attended her wedding in September.

Cauter’s children were in several musicals produced by Ferguson. Cauter’s son, Jeff, was Winthrop in “The Music Man.” Her daughter, Emily, was Gretel in “Sound of Music” and Sandy in “Grease.” Emily and Davidson will sing at Ferguson’s celebration of life.

“She was like my kids’ aunt,” Cauter said. “She was a part of the family.”