I had two teachers that probably had the biggest influence on my life in regards to my education. One was my high school history teacher. Retired Air force Colonel Dean Hess is one of those two. He was a very wise, compassionate man that had a way of delivering a lesson that compelled you to listen. I never knew of his former life when I was his student. He never spoke of the great things he had done. Only later did I learn much more about him that helped me understand how and why he became the person he was.
Dean Hess: The Flying Parson
https://www.historynet.com/dean-hess-flying-parson/It's a very long article or I would have posted it. To say I feel both honored and blessed to have had him as a teacher would be a huge understatement.
Then there was my High School music teacher, Carol Wicker. Where I went to school there were only two people of color. One was a student who had been adopted by a white family when she was a baby. The other was Ms. Wicker. She made you understand that her students were people she cared about not only as students, but as people. At one point every elective class I had was in her music department. That was my freshman year in high school. I was in the freshman choir, the high school choir and the ensemble group that performed at shows to help fund raise for the music department. As such she gave me a glimpse into a first hand aspect of American culture I new nothing about. Expanded my understanding of a life and experiences I had never quite known before. It wasn't something she elected to simply tell me. It was that I asked her and wanted to know. She was a very dedicated and passionate person.
I will always remember those two and the fond memories of having them as my educators.
