Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/97177
Kenneth Devoe Class of 1965 One of the enduring hallmarks of the Latin School is the superior quality of our faculty. I, like many of you, was blessed to be taught by so many outstanding individuals who excelled not only in their scholarship, but also in their innate ability to inspire me to do and be my best. I can say without equivocation that the teacher who most influenced and inspired me, and who had the most profound positive impact on my life and career, was Dr. Richard Dolezal. He, of course, was my high school English teacher. But to call him an English teacher would be like calling Thomas Edison a tinkerer. Dr. Dolezal taught me much more than an appreciation and understanding of literature. From Dr. Dolezal, I learned how to study, how to research, how to attack a mountain of information ��� no matter what the topic ��� and find the nuggets therein that I would need to complete any task. He taught me how to organize my thoughts and write them in a compelling manner that would successfully make whatever point or argument I needed to make. He, more than any other teacher I���ve ever had, prepared me for the rigors of higher education. As a result, I was never daunted or intimidated by the workload or complexity of subject matter during my undergraduate studies at Yale and graduate studies at Indiana University. But beyond the academic skill sets that I learned from Dr. Dolezal, more than anything, he taught me the joy of intellectual curiosity. He made learning fun. Somehow he even made it possible for me to actually enjoy reading the novels of Henry James. Not an easy task. Dr. Dolezal turned the process of learning into an exciting journey of discovery. To this day, it is a journey that I thoroughly enjoy and that, above everything else, has made it possible for me to have a successful and fun career as a freelance writer serving the communications needs of Fortune 50 companies. Whether I���m writing about a new product or technology, or the good works that client companies��� employees are doing in their communities, I go through that same exciting journey of discovery that Dr. Dolezal inspired me to pursue. Because of him, I find the ability to communicate the results successfully to be satisfying and rewarding. More than a gifted and inspiring teacher, Dr. Dolezal was one of the finest human beings ever to inhabit this planet. He was a friend and a mentor. He was genuinely interested in the welfare of his students well beyond the classroom. He personified kindness. And, he had a buoyant, yet subtle, sense of humor. I remember writing a term paper for one of his classes in which I wanted to say that the particular work of literature which was the subject of my paper was a perfect example of effective, dramatic writing. But, rather than use the phrase perfect example, I wanted to use a 25-cent word, so I settled on epitome. Unfortunately, I didn���t actually use the word epitome but rather its homonym, epidemy, which of course refers to an epidemic disease. I must have used epidemy a dozen times in the paper, never realizing the error of my ways. Dr. Dolezal reviewed the paper. He politely pointed out my mistake, but commended me on my ���consistency.��� Opposite page: Latin���s Forum names Dr. D teacher of the year. This page: a page from Dr. Dolezal���s Bible. ���Dr. Dolezal was my favorite teacher of all time. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back for one more class with him.��� ��� Colette Thompson Christian, Class of 1979 LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 43