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| The Stranger
There was a man (at my father’s funeral) I had never seen before or since - perhaps an old friend, colleague, employee, or WWII buddy - who began to make his way toward me from the rear of the gallery after the burial service. He moved with such a great sense of determination and single-mindedness of purpose that I knew from his very first steps that there was something very important that he wished to say to me. As he neared, he extended his hand, introduced himself, looked me directly in my sunglasses-masked eyes, and, with tears in his own eyes and a choked voice said, “Son, if you are so fortunate as to live long enough to become half the man of your father, you will certainly be a great man.” As if it took all of his energy and composure to convey that one sentiment, his eyes immediately flooded with tears, his countenance fell, and he turned and departed with the same sense of determination with which he had approached, never pausing to greet any of the others in the crowd, and then he was just gone . . .
I have always wondered if Daddy ever knew that his life had been so meaningful to that stranger from his past who approached me at his funeral. It is no coincidence that it was shortly thereafter that I penned my first letter to Coach Attwood as I vowed that I would do my best not to leave any doubt in the minds of those who were so important to me . . .
E-mail excerpt from Zip Zimmerman ’79 to former classmate Wendy Kearns Lewis ‘79 |
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Sitting here in my study . . . I began to reminisce about the “good old days” and decided to peruse the SCPS website. I came across your webpage and thought I’d say hello. Also, as perhaps one of your most troublesome students, one who certainly did his fair share of reports on classical mathematicians and philosophers for being out of uniform, I wanted to apologize for any grief I may have caused you as a student. But, most importantly, I wanted to thank you for having such a positive influence on my life.
I hold degrees from both Armstrong and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and for more than 20 years I been working as a professional engineer in the metro-Atlanta area. Although at various times I have been engaged in the practice of general civil and environmental engineering, I have practiced structural engineering for the vast majority of my career. It is a career that I find very rewarding. As you are certainly aware, mathematics, geometry, calculus, and physics have played a major role in my professional life. Without question, so much of my success may be condignly attributed to you and the sturdy foundation in those subjects that I received in your classes . . .
I hope, even if it is not expressed often enough by your former pupils, that you find the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness that as a teacher you deservedly share in the accomplishments of all of us who had the good fortune to be instructed and influenced by you . . .
I am sure that there are countless former students like me who have begun on numerous occasions to put pen to paper to properly thank those who have been so instrumental to their success, only to abandon the effort due to the demands of family or career or simply the inability to locate their former teachers. However, I’m sure that you can be confident in the knowledge that their appreciation resides in their hearts and minds even if it is not formally communicated to you. To mischievous, adolescent boys such as I was then, school, teachers, and homework were the natural enemies of far more important pursuits like having fun. But you would be surprised how often we thought of you in a college calculus or differential equations class and appreciated what you had done to get us there and wished that we had adopted a more cooperative and less adversarial attitude in your classes. It is ironic that, if memory serves, I don’t believe I ever did any better than average in any of your or Mrs. Ledford’s algebra or trig. classes, but in college I aced most of my calculus and at least one of my differential equations classes. It is a testament to your talent as a teacher that you prepared even mediocre students like me to excel at higher levels . . .
For the sake of the kid in your class now, who does not do his homework as often or as completely as he should, who hides in the back of your class and never raises his hand to answer a question, who occasionally tries to slip by without a tie or in a denim jacket and tennis shoes, or who maybe even cuts classes the entire day to go swimming at the borrow pit because of an inherent, but mostly benign, rebellious streak that compels him not to conform maybe just (because), please remember that it may be that very kid who decides to contact you 30 years later and lets you know just how important you were to him as you were to me.
Barbara Lanier recently celebrated her 35th year of teaching at SCPS.
Zip is one of her former students.
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