One of the mysteries of life is that we rarely realize the affect individual people have on us until long after we are no longer associated with them. This is particularly true with the roll of teachers. As I look back in time, I have come to realize that the teachers of Provincetown had a tremendous influence of what I was to become and what I am today. Had you told me back then that I would spend nearly 40 years as an educator I and my friends would have told you, you were nuts! Provincetown teachers provided me with a solid foundation both in basic knowledge to succeed and in the formation of my character. Some showed me what not to do while others showed me empathy and the willingness to go the extra mile to ensure I could be successful.

Miss Lewis was an older teacher who never married. She was in her forties but in the eyes of an eighth grader she looked ancient. She taught Junior High history and geography for Grade Eights and Nines. She was very strict and demanding, but she taught a subject that I loved and as a result, I absorbed a great deal from her. While I was on a New Mexico trip, I received, to my surprise, a letter from Miss Lewis. She seemed to share my joy of exploring and I saw another side of this stately old maid. When I returned I took her class in geography.

To my regret, I never did tell her how much that letter meant to me and how it was instrumental, latter in my career, in helping me become more personal with my students. Miss Lewis spent her entire career at PHS and after retiring spent the rest of her life in Provincetown, she died in 2001 while I was the Principal in Pittsburg, New Hampshire. She started in 1933 and retired in 1973 after 40 years as a great teacher. I did not tell you when you were alive, but thank you, Miss Lewis for the seed you planted in me to care for my students and to realize that each and every one of us is special!

Coach Murphy showed me that size was not a limiting factor but an opportunity to surprise. He coached the smallest school in the state to state championships. He took the players given to him and developed their skills and never used the lack of size as an excuse for losing.

Mr. Henderson, my social teacher, could paint a picture of ancient times with his lectures and he provided me with a love for history.

Mr. Dahill taught math. He had been an engineer before his eyesight began to fail and he wore coke bottles for glasses, but could he teach! He showed me that even subjects that were hard could still be fun if the teacher loved their subject and that love just made it a little easier to learn.

Finally, there was Mrs. Phoebe Rogers, a teacher that understood teenage boys and knew how to bring the best out of them. She gave me a love for reading and then learning. She took me under her wing and refused to allow me to fail. She was chiefly responsible for my desire to continue my education and ultimately was responsible for me seeking an education at the University of New Mexico.

Unlike Miss Lewis, I did visit Mrs. Rogers many years after I had graduated from college and again she taught me one last lesson. I knocked at her door and as she opened it, she was much older than I remembered and much smaller. She had been a giant in my eyes when I took her classes as a student. In my eyes she had stood tall and firm with a great sense of humor, and demanded students to provide her their best efforts. I realized she did not recognize me. To this day, I do not know if she was suffering from memory lost because of her age or that she had taught so many students that I had become a blur in her memory. At either rate we talked for about an hour and I came away with the understanding that what she remember was not as important as what she had done for me at a critical time in my life. It instilled in me the importance that teachers have in the lives of their students and that was a sacred trust. It would help me to realize the importance of the words of a college professor about why he became a professor. I had asked that question to Professor Jerome Bruner at Colorado State University and his answer has stayed with me to this day. He said; “I became a teacher to influence students and over a 40 year career I felt I could have an impact on several thousand students, I then became a principal because then I could have an impact on even more students and then became a superintendent because the influence would increase again. I finally realized that as a college professor of teachers to be, my influence could be in the millions.”

It was that thinking that led me to become an administrator. Even though I had opportunities I never went beyond being a principal of a small school because I always wanted to have that one on one contact with students.