By the time I was born, my dad was a math teacher at Covina High School near Los Angeles, but his journey to that role was anything but ordinary. Before he met my mother, he was a citrus rancher in Hemet, California. As part of his ranching business, he often purchased plants. He loved telling stories about how he would travel as far as Texas to acquire them. His roots ran deep in Hemet, where his father was a minister and his mother sang in the church choir.
My dad had a love for horses and owned several that he lent to the local Ramona Pageant, where he himself played Sheriff Merrill in the production. He had a flair for performance, which wasn’t surprising considering he had studied acting with Lloyd Bridges during his time at UCLA. He would do bits from Shakespeare and tell us how the professor would say to him "boy!, you need to pronounciate your words!" His academic path began at Claremont College, continued at UCLA, and concluded at USC, where he earned his Juris Doctorate. Despite his legal education, he decided that teaching held more value for society than practicing law. He believed he could make a difference by reaching young minds before they made poor choices, so he took a teaching position at the local high school in Hemet. I’ve often reflected on this, especially with regret for how difficult I made his life during my teenage years. I truly challenged his whole value system with the many mistakes I made, but he never gave up on me and thanks to his unwavering belief in me, my life turned completely around and we became very close.
My mom and dad moved to Covina where he began teaching math at Covina High School. He remained there until his retirement in 1975. During his years at CHS, he formed close friendships with colleagues at school. He and my mom were active with little league and both Girl and Boy scouting.
I deeply admired and loved both of them. After my mother passed away from breast cancer in 1991, my dad and I talked on the phone weekly, sharing recipes and discussing politics. He had a sharp mind and a kind heart, and he remained engaged with the world around him until the very end.
One of the most touching moments of his later years came when he received a letter from a former student at Covina High School. The student thanked him for everything they had learned in his class. I don't have that letter and I don't recall who wrote it. My dad didn’t receive much recognition from students otherwise, but that one letter meant the world to him. It reflected the kind of man he was—someone who did his best, with a good heart, to leave the world a little better than he found it.
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