I once read, while I was a junior in high school, that a highbrow is someone who looks at a piece of sausage and thinks of Picasso. Wow.
Well, I looked at a piece of steak I was cooking Wednesday and thought about a teacher and a class and a student that said a few things I will never forget. If I could only remember the student’s name. I could find him these days. I know I could. I don’t, however, remember his name. It was a college speech class…pardon me…Public Speaking class. The classmate I reference was always complimentary of my speeches. I liked him. He was a plain-speaking, upbeat, positive youngster. How I wish I remembered his name. Twenty-seven years and being more worried about my grade than his will cloud things. I did get an “A” in the class. In fact, we were competitive. There were about twenty-two of us in the class. My point total at the end of the semester was 2nd to a girl from Clarksville. Her last name was Overton. I don’t remember what she looked like. I just remember her last name over the top of mine. It was a close race I can tell you.
The student whose name I can’t remember worked at a Ponderosa Steakhouse. His demonstration speech was how to cook a steak. My strip steak I cooked Wednesday faintly have the criss-cross sear marks my classmate told us about and took a great deal of pride in. I turned this piece of beef over and thought about my old classmate. I thought of Rick Jones, our teacher. We became friends. We lost track of each other years ago. He liked The Moody Blues too. I have written about him on these pages before. He was a great teacher.
That leads us to today’s Top Ten List. My Top Ten Teachers. My parents notwithstanding, I must give them credit, I give you today’s list that comes to mind. Tomorrow the list may be different.
#10 Mrs. Bridges…my kindergarten teacher. She sent a note home telling my folks that I was “all boy”. I don’t know what that means but I appreciated it. She was a great teacher.
# 9 Mr. Jim St. Clair…He taught me a media class at IUS. We just flat had an understanding. He loved what I had to write and I loved the way he ran the class. He was so complimentary and demanding in his own understated way.
#8 Mr. Larry Martin…He taught me Social Studies in the 7th grade. Had him the last period of the day and it was dream of a way to end the day. Even those damned “get out a clean sheet of paper and number it down the left margin 1 through 10.” The pop quiz. Did you pay attention? We found out quickly on those days.
# 7 Mrs. Patty Miller…She taught a course called Sports Literature when I was a sophomore. Maybe they were trying to get rid of her. It worked. She didn’t know if a ball was filled with air or stuffed with feathers. It was second semester and the Baltimore Colts moved their stuff via Mayflower moving trucks to Indianapolis. She too was complimentary of my writing. She helped me a great deal the day she grabbed my yearbook and wrote the words “You are an excellent writer.” That helped.
# 6 Dr. Dick Brengle…One of my professors at IUS. Talking Chaucer and Beowulf with this man was an extraordinary experience. He played baseball for Columbia University and one the teams they played was Yale who had a player named George H.W. Bush.
# 5 Dr. Nancy Cunningham…Dr. Cunningham taught a course at the University of Louisville whilst I was working in my M.Ed. She was so smart. She was such a great communicator. Class wasn’t class…it was an experience. Time flew.
# 4 Dr. Bill Sweigart…He was my expository writing teacher and this class did me a world of good. He knew what I was trying to do with my writing and pointed me in directions that made things better. He guided. He did not interject. He too gave me confidence in the craft and helped me edit things in ways I did not think I had the patience or time for. Translation: This was valuable time.
# 3 Mrs. Betty Englehardt….This lady taught my senior English class. She was tough. She was kind. She was about 4 foot 9 inches tall. She was much larger than that to me. If there was someone in the building I did not want to disappoint beyond my Dad, it was Mrs. E. My Dylan Thomas speech was a highlight that senior year. I worked as a helper for her with other students that struggled a bit. We were a heck of a team.
#2 Mr. James Stewart…So he was my boss. We worked together all of three full years. The first two went so well that after I left and took a job somewhere else he called me two years later when his guidance counselor retired and offered me the job. I told him I didn’t have a counseling license. He told me I would get one. I did. We worked together one more year. Then he retired. He was a friend. He was my chief. That is what I called him. The best school man I ever knew. I miss him.
#1 Dr. Millard Dunn…I called Dr. Dunn yesterday to ask for help with something I am working on. It is a piece of writing. I emailed him some things later and included this passage:
In the fall of 1991, I walked into a class room and met a man that changed my life. G207. Grammar and Usage. Dr. Millard Dunn was the man. What he did was the difference that has allowed me to utilize the English language in multiple forms and be somewhat successful at it. He met me where I was. He had to stoop for sure to reach me. Stoop he did. And with great strength and cause and care and desire and knowledge and maybe some pity…he stayed there with me until I graduated in 1995. Whether he knows it or not, I have taken him every step of the way since.
Today a gentleman was in the building to speak of a scholarship he is the benefactor of for an IUS student. I told him about me talking to Millard yesterday. I told him that little did we know when we both walked into that class room 27 years ago that we would still be in touch and he would still be my teacher and me his student. One of those rare occasions when things align the way they should…for the best.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson