Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/97177
Mary Jo Houck Middle School English Department Chair This is just to thank the three of you for a dazzling presentation yesterday afternoon. I have some sense of the work you put into gathering and giving us the materials alone; your enthusiastic presence and the excellence of your work inspires me. Thanks. Dick (I hope this gets to all of you; I���m not used to sending email to several recipients.) ��� Email sent to Mary Jo Houck and two other faculty members, 8:30 a.m., January 14 1998. This is one of a handful of thank you notes that Dick sent me, and I am sure that he had no idea how much his positive comments meant to me or that I saved them. Now that I am sure he is settled and looking down on us, I need to thank him. ���My experiences are not unique. I am one of thousands of people whose lives you have changed for the better. I am one of the fortunate.��� ��� Mary Jo Houck, Middle School English Department Chair 44 Dear Dick, Before I came to Latin, I taught in a school where test scores drove the curriculum and teachers competed, never sharing ideas or supporting or encouraging each other. High scores, no matter how they were achieved, were the sign of an excellent teacher. It was a cold place with no sense of community. Because of this experience, I have a deep appreciation and respect for teachers like you. Dick, you represented and still represent all that is good at Latin. You, a master teacher, shared your passion for literature and writing and valued and respected your students and colleagues. You listened, guided and inspired. I was fortunate to watch you teach, lead meetings, counsel students and colleagues, and laugh and enjoy time with your cherished friends. You taught me that my role at Latin goes beyond the classroom, that we are all part of each other���s lives and we are a family, a community with a common goal. Last year, Shelley asked me to give the Inspiramus, to stand here where you stood each August to welcome and ���inspire��� the faculty. Preparing my words was overwhelming. As I wrote, I thought of all of the times I sat in this theater listening to you as you captured what we were all feeling and hoping to achieve. I left feeling proud to be a teacher and part of the Latin community, a community that values the individual and one that takes care of its members. You weren���t able to attend, but I want you to know that I was proud and humbled. I spoke from my heart about how it wasn���t a great classroom teacher who inspired me to teach, but my dad who taught me at the dining room table, encouraging me when my classrooms teachers gave up on me. My dad ��� like you, Dick ��� believed that a teacher���s role is to show students that they can do and be much more than they think is possible. My experiences are not unique. I am one of thousands of people whose lives you have changed for the better. I am one of the fortunate. For your support and encouragement and the lessons you taught me, I thank you. I am not used to sending notes this way. I hope you get it. L AT I N M AGAZINE