Overview:
Reflecting on a lifetime in education an educator created a “gratitude tour” to thank and honor the people who shaped his teaching career and life.
In my final years of a career I’d not planned and sometimes questioned, multiple events led me to think about how very grateful I was for past Heads of School, colleagues, students and even high school friends who’d carved out a career in teaching.
In the spring of 2024, I was wrapping up my 26th year at Blue Ridge, a small boarding school with a lot of heart in Greene County, VA, about twenty minutes north of Charlottesville. Though I wasn’t fully retiring from teaching, I was leaving Blue Ridge so I was asked to give a “Last Lecture.” I found myself recalling mistakes I’d made (human nature, I suppose), national or world tragedies that had abruptly altered instructional plans, and then administrators, colleagues, students and friends who had reminded me over the years that what I was doing mattered.
I had begun thinking about retirement during the Covid years. The challenges that Covid presented to educators, their students and families were overwhelming to many. I was already in the winter of my career so it wasn’t a great leap to think about calling it quits. I really wanted to end it at Blue Ridge because I owed that school so much and had given so much.
Blue Ridge is a boarding school. Many faculty members and their families live on campus. I never had. In my final year, though, due to happy circumstances (my wife and I had sold our home far more quickly than anticipated and she became employed in another state), I was given an opportunity to live in a cluster of trailers with three young people whom I now consider friends for life: Dhruv Mehrotra from Pune, India, Blue Ridge graduate and English student of mine during his sophomore year at BRS, who now coaches college basketball; Simon Curry from Philadelphia, PA, a history teacher, high school baseball and football coach; and Cassius Christie from Maplewood, NJ, now coaching high school lacrosse. They took me in as one of their own despite the significant age difference. I will be forever grateful for their acceptance of me.
After I gave that lecture, each one of my trailer mates and others hugged me. What I’d said struck a chord. I was also asked to speak to the seniors during convocation, and then I was celebrated at the end-of-the-year faculty party. I probably didn’t do a great job of thanking everyone for these additional honors at the time, but I was so very appreciative.
I was leaving Blue Ridge but was given one more opportunity to teach that I couldn’t turn down. It was a parttime gig at the St. Anne’s School of Annapolis in Maryland where my wife and daughter were already employed and two granddaughters were attending. Again, I was filled with gratitude for that chance. I grew close to my advisees and students in the Center for Learning – so much so that I had to add a paragraph to my Last Lecture just in case I was ever asked to give that speech again.
I announced my full retirement to St. Anne’s School and the world in the winter of 2025. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading John “Chick” Donohue’s and J. T. Molloy’s 2015The Greatest Beer Run Ever. The title had caught my attention, and the story, I found, was about so much more than a beer run. Chick showed his appreciation for his neighborhood buddies fighting in Vietnam by delivering beer to them.
The story is about war, politics and friendship, but what I drew mostly from it was gratitude at a time when many in this country were protesting that police action. When I began considering how I might show gratitude to those who impacted me during my teaching career, Chick’s gesture came to mind. Purchasing a beverage of choice for my former administrators, colleagues and students would be part of my mission to thank them. It would be, as it was for Chick, a small act of kindness that would symbolize deep appreciation.
I also learned that winter that Blue Ridge School dedicated the 2023-2024 yearbook to me. What a pleasant surprise! Former colleague Dedra Demaree contacted me to let me know she needed to send me something. I thought I’d left something dreadful in that trailer and she’d drawn the short straw to mail it to me. A few days later, the yearbook arrived. How thoughtful she’d been to send me a copy. I began leafing through it, and there it was, the dedication along with pictures and thoughtful tributes from faculty and students. I was in tears.
With all of these feelings swirling in my heart, I came up with an idea – a gratitude tour. What Chick did was dangerous. He managed to find his buddies while bullets literally flew past him, and he dodged at least one significant bombing. I would jump in my little blue car and endure only other wacky drivers. The sentiment would be the same, though. After forty-three years, there would be no shortage of those I wanted to see and to whom I would deliver a beverage. I would also write about them, celebrate them. Professional athletes are celebrated. So are actors and actresses.
Those who have been fortunate to find success in those professions are compensated handsomely. Educators, not so much. Name someone who can’t think back to at least one teacher or coach who made all the difference in that person’s life. You can’t. Yet, educators are among the least celebrated and lowest paid professionals in our society. Oops. I’ll step off my soapbox and let my writing tell the stories. But where to begin? I decided I’d start with Heads of School, a few select dear former colleagues, a handful of students, and several high school friends.
When I began putting my list together, I immediately felt saddened by knowing that many of them have passed away. Several of them are listed here.
Frank DeAngelis — served Blue Ridge School for many years in multiple roles; passed on September 16, 2014
Ed McFarlane — former Head of School at Blue Ridge School; passed on August 26, 2017
Joe Stiles — former student and actor at Carter High School; Class of 81; passed on July 28, 2022
Jim Niederberger — Blue Ridge School history teacher and organist for forty-nine years; passed on November 11, 2023
Peter Cole — served Blue Ridge School for seven years; passed on September 2, 2024
Father Frank Kissel –Marist School teacher and coach; September 17, 2025
And so I embarked on my gratitude tour. As of January 5, 2026, I have made visits to twenty-two friends in Knoxville, TN; St. George, VA; Durham, NC; Virginia Beach, VA; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; and Annapolis, MD. I hope my chapters expressing gratitude for them adequately describe what they have meant to me and to education.
I want to express my gratitude to Dan Dunsmore. I am very fortunate to have Dan as a very good friend for many years. We met as fellow teachers at Durham Academy when we were both young and relatively new to teaching. He was fun, outgoing, and fit in well with the Durham Academy community. There were a lot of young faculty members at that time, and we grew and matured together. He was supportive of and genuinely cared about his students and worked with them to achieve their goals. He was also supportive of his colleagues by providing advice when asked or just by listening to them when they needed it. I was happy to hear that he found a good community of friends at the Blue Ridge School. While we may not get rich by teaching, we have a wealth of friends and memories that we have made along the way. Best wishes to Dan, his family and his friends.
Thank you, Chuck, for these very kind words! Yes, you and I were young during our Durham Academy days. Hopefully, fingers crossed, others will soon read about just how important you were to me and my development as an educator. You, as well as anyone, recognized that teachers are (or should be) a mutually supportive community, but you took it one step further. You led with love – with your colleagues and your students. You still lead with love, and I am blessed to count you among my dear friends.
This is such an awesome project! I’m so glad the students overwhelmingly thought to dedicate the yearbook to you as well. I look forward to reading more from your tour!
Thank you, Dedra! Sorry I’m just now seeing your kind note. I wish you all the best as you and Alex continue your beautiful journey in New York. You will be sorely missed at Blue Ridge School.