Over the weekend, I heard that the music teacher from my high school alma mater has passed. Facebook was the news source (as it is in so many unique ways more and more), and I read post after post about that person. I couldn't really contribute, as I had a bit of a musical moratorium during my high school years (I was musical in Junior High [I even wrote my own Christmas song, which is probably in my file room {and yes, I'm a hoarder-in-training with an out-of-control "file room" in the apartment}] and again in college [Pajama Game 1991 anyone?]).
But it did remind me that, earlier this year as I advanced a New Year's resolution initiative to get through the pile of reading material under the coffee table (did I already mention I'm a hoarder-in-training?), I discovered in my LVC alumni magazines that my junior high teachers Helen Smith and Ronald Drum had both passed (in 2010 and 2011 respectively). Besides first thinking that this was yet another sign of my rapid aging (as is my 25 year high school reunion that is hopefully being planned for next year), I realized that this is why small town newspapers are so important (to catch the names of those whom you know that have died).
So Helen Smith -- with whom I can still recall reading Flowers for Algernon and by whom my IEP was written ... and Ronald Drum -- who was my eighth grade reading teacher (do they still have classes like that at school -- where everyone just sits silently in individual study carrels, reading until the bell rings [note: I aced it]?) and who famously covered up the classroom clock with the message, "Time passes. Will you?", you will be both be missed (albeit belatedly).
THINKING OF YOU MRS. SMITH:
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/flowers-for-algernon.html
THINKING OF YOU MR. DRUM:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ldnews/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=152028334#fbLoggedOut
MAYBE IT'S MACABRE, BUT COULD YOU LIST THOSE INSTRUCTORS WHO'VE PASSED?:
http://www.lebanon.k12.pa.us/
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