Though I personally think the back-to-school bells are ringing too early these days — particularly given the checkered performance of public school HVAC systems across the South — I would still wait until after Labor Day.
My days of formal education ended more than 40 years ago, yet the memories of those classrooms, and of many of those teachers and later professors, remain so vivid in my mind.
Miss Rice — My First Grade Teacher
Miss Rice was kind, sweet, new to teaching and very soft-spoken. Before the holiday break, Miss Rice announced a grand reading contest. The winner would be the student who read the most books by the time we returned from Christmas break, nearly 45 days later.
I won the contest handily, having read more than 60 books. But the prize was even better: a chess set.
I had never even played checkers. I will write more about chess later, but Miss Rice gave me the gift of critical thinking.
Mrs. Morris — Fourth Grade
Fourth grade gave me the petite and wound-tight Mrs. Morris. She was a thorough and precise taskmaster, and she had me complete what seemed like Herculean learning tasks. I have written an entire earlier column about Mrs. Morris and my aforementioned grandmother, Mary Crane, being responsible for what I hope is my still-growing vocabulary.
Miss Autry — Gifted Program
Brother Brian, sister Tanya and I were enrolled in the Gifted Program at our elementary school. As the oldest of the trio, being the last one selected for the program gave me a bit of an inferiority complex.
Though classmates had started calling me “Crane Brain” in kindergarten, I thought I must be the family dunce.
Miss Autry taught us to try to use all of our minds and to be proud of what they could hold. Miss Autry, who didn’t really seem to like herself very much, taught me to like me.
Coach Nick Janoulis/Coach Eddie Roberts
Other than one physical education coach in elementary school, there were no male teachers. But two high school coaches left their marks on me, influencing both my mind and my worldview.
Nick Janoulis was a smaller man, built lean but solidly, much like the wrestling team he coached. His U.S. government classes were always fun and informative, and he had a quick wit that provided a healthy challenge for my own, which by then had developed into that of a class clown.
It was Coach Janoulis who started my lifelong interest in politics.
I ran cross country for most of my high school years under legendary cross country coach Eddie Roberts. Perhaps the most valuable lesson he taught me, while attempting to help me lengthen my running stride, was to stop looking sideways and checking where my competitor was in any race.
Keep your eyes straight ahead on the road, which was often quite uneven, and focus on your pace, stride and breathing. Looking sideways will only slow you down, possibly trip you up and can easily take you off course.
Ms. Jeannie Mills/Mrs. Lynell Chance
I chose to take math, a subject I generally disliked, twice with Jeannie Mills. Other than memorization, math never came naturally to me. I scored higher on the verbal than the math portions of the SAT.
To boost that SAT score in time for college entrance exams, SAT Math was one of the last classes I took from Ms. Mills. Following her lead, I added 20 points to my next SAT Math score, tying my verbal score. That SAT score bump allowed me to be accepted to all but one of the colleges and universities to which I applied.
Lynell Chance encouraged my vocabulary, my reading and my writing. My frequent smart-aleck remarks were at full steam by this point.
Mrs. Chance also was the sponsor of our school newspaper, The Lakeside Legend. Once, after a particularly choice remark by me, while still smiling and biting her tongue, Mrs. Chance said to me, “Mr. Crane, it seems you have so much to say. Perhaps you should consider writing it down ... and then never showing it to anyone.”
Even I laughed at that.
I wish I had done a better job of keeping in touch with the educators who did so much and meant so much to me.
But if nothing else, I hope these words reach them or their loved ones as I once again say, “Thank you and God bless you.”
Now, back to class.