My high school years were in McLeansboro, Illinois where I had very good teachers and a terrible one. He taught Geography and his method of teaching was for each student to read a paragraph out of the textbook. I counted the number of students before me so I knew which was my paragraph and did something else until my turn. About a week into the quarter the Principal said he had some seats in shop if anyone wanted to change. My hand shot up first. Oddly I have a Master’s of Science in Geography.

            One of my two favorite teachers was Mr. Arnold, the shop teacher. He taught me how to design a house which I did and built it out of Balsa wood. Twelve years later I designed and did much of the work on the house I live in now. I wired it, did the plumbing and hot water heat, painted and paneled it. Without him I wouldn’t have thought about doing it. He moved to Salem a few years later and I often drove by Salem always thinking I should stop off and see him. He made me an officer in our chapter of Shop Clubs which was a starter to be President of Murray State’s professional Geography’s chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon.That gave me the ability to be a Rotary Club President, run many committees and then a District Governor.

                My other favorite was Mr. Hallum who taught American History. It was a real treat each day to listen to him and his enthusiasm. I have a twenty-seven semester hour minor in History. No other history educator had the same effect on me. I have over a hundred History books in my library. I think it was Robert Hallum who inspired my desire to learn about how we got to where we are today. I love documentaries about life’s changes from thousands of years ago to now and how the Earth evolved and continues to do so. I owe a big thank you to Paul and Bob!