Most of the time, she never saw them again. But there was Ray McFall, 35 years later, in what he jokingly calls one of those Hollywood fairy tale almost-endings.

Jay, now an assistant professor at Widener University, served on the committee that this week decided whether McFall, now principal of Marple Newtown High School, would earn his doctoral degree.

"What are the chances? Talk about coming full circle," Jay said. "From first grade to doctoral candidate, how wonderful is that?"

Or, as Jay more jokingly put it, "from toothless 6-year-old to a grown-up professional."

That grown-up professional is a long way from the 6-year-old in plaid pants and a gold shirt who stood next to a gray-and-pink-clad Jay in a 1974 class picture.

"I tell her, 'I was a kid and wasn't responsible for what I was wearing,' " said McFall, 41, of Springfield, Delaware County. "She was an adult."

McFall and Jay joke about the turn of events that led them to reconnect. He said Brad Pitt would play him in the movie.

The two had bumped into each other periodically over the years when they lived in close-knit Ridley Township. McFall lived across the street from his school, Lakeview Elementary, and Jay still lives in Ridley, where she began her teaching career in 1971.

"The way he was then is the way he is now," said Jay, 60. He was "smart, quick to smile, and very social - sometimes a little too social. Sometimes I would have to remind him to stay on task and not be so social."

McFall doesn't remember much about first grade.

"I remember I liked her," he said. "And her husband was a cop, and we thought that was cool."

McFall remembers more clearly being the "underachieving" brother of two "overachieving" older sisters, who are now lawyers. He said he was the first in the family to be sent to the principal's office.

A self-described math geek, McFall went on to a career as a civil engineer for the Delaware Department of Transportation. He soon realized that he hated life in a cubicle, and decided the classroom was a better fit.

"I realized that what I enjoyed was being an engineering student," McFall said. "I liked the math, doing the problems."

McFall enrolled in graduate school to study education at Widener. He eventually returned to his hometown district to be a student teacher, and later earned a math teaching post. He taught in Ridley for 10 years before he joined the Marple Newtown School District as an assistant principal in 2005. He was appointed principal in January 2008.

Meanwhile, Jay became a reading specialist and curriculum supervisor for the Ridley district. She left to be an administrator with the Upper Darby School District, where she was principal of Bywood Elementary.

Jay, who earned a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, taught as an adjunct professor at St. Joseph's University for 11 years, and was appointed assistant professor at Widener in 2004.

Jay and McFall's chance meetings through the years included an encounter at an Acme and the time McFall, then a Ridley teacher, was assigned to tutor Jay's daughter.

In 2006, McFall was sitting in a Widener classroom to take his comprehensive exams for his doctoral studies. Jay walked in. She was the proctor for the test.

"She told me if I told anybody in the room how old she was, she'd have to hurt me," McFall said.

When it was time for him to select the three-person committee that would guide him through his dissertation, Jay seemed like a natural choice.

"He asked me in the Acme," Jay said. "I was thrilled."

On Wednesday, Jay sat next to McFall as he defended his dissertation on the state Department of Education's Classrooms for the Future initiative.

McFall discussed his study of the effects of the now-defunct technology program before Jay, two other committee members, and two dissertation readers.

After the defense, the committee and readers talked behind closed doors while McFall stood outside. Ten minutes later, they opened the door and congratulated him. The first hug came from Jay.

"Dr. McFall, I'm so proud of you," Jay said.

The committee members then signed a document confirming that McFall had passed the test.

When Jay signed, McFall was ready with a quip.

"What did you write?" McFall asked. "That I talked too much?"