COEUR d'ALENE - Qualities that make a teacher extraordinary — kindness, wisdom, humor, guidance, encouragement, love — have been demonstrated by Eileen Bieber for 50 years.

Current Coeur d'Alene High School students chanted "Bieber! Bieber! Bieber!" from the bleachers as grateful former students waited in a line that stretched across Viking Court to present one of their favorite teachers with roses and big hugs during a special Friday assembly.

“I love her. She is my most favorite teacher ever in the world," said Karen Santos, who graduated in 1989 and had Bieber as a sophomore. "We always had a really special bond."

The surprised Bieber shed happy tears as she was celebrated for her many contributions to Coeur d'Alene High School and the lives of countless students through the decades.

"It’s amazing," Santos said. "She deserves all the greatness that can happen for her."

Bieber and her husband Larry, who also taught in the schools, are fondly called "the Bieb" by those who know them.

Bieber has been a substitute teacher at CHS for the past 20 years. Prior to that, she was an educator for 30 years, during which she spent 28 years as a Viking teacher and coach. She is the founder and creator of the Blue Zoo Crew, the Mother-Daughter Tea, the Sunrise Sunset Dance and Mr. CHS.

"Mrs. Bieber has blazed a trail for generations of Vikings, past, present and future," CHS Principal Mike Randles said.

"But more important than trails blazed, there were lives touched," he said. "Mrs. Bieber has been the inspiration of the inspired, the champion of the underdog, and today, the heart of Coeur d'Alene High School."

Bieber's longtime friend and colleague, CHS speech and communications teacher Melody Melton, placed a tiara on her head as the crowd went wild.

"She teaches me to be happy," Melton said. "No matter what, be happy. That's the most valuable thing she's taught me. I love her."

Joe Clark graduated from CHS in 1979. He had Bieber three times, once in junior high and twice in high school.

"The first time I had her, her name wasn't even Bieber, it was Eileen Tucker," Clark said. "Most remarkable teacher I ever had. She's just so approachable and relatable. She was as much a teacher as a friend, mentor and really was deliberate about how she taught, made sure us kids learned. You can take the best teachers, everybody has their favorite teacher — multiply that times five and that's how most people think about her."

Bieber met her husband, Larry Bieber, when he was teaching driver's education.

"I was teaching in her classroom in the mornings, and then we met, and that was it," he said with a smile.

Helen Pischner had Bieber for creative writing in 1983.

"She was my favorite teacher," she said. "She's a big instrumental reason why I'm a teacher now."

She said it was beautiful to see Bieber honored, "for 50 years of her giving to the students and being there for us always."

Bieber, with an arm full of colorful roses, beamed from ear to ear.

"Really and truly, I am just in awe," she said. "I would have never dreamed this could happen."