As you prepare your morning coffee, or…
get ready to head out to work, or…
drop your children off at preschool,
I invite you, on this day of remembrance of our Veterans,
to take a moment of silence out of your day to ponder
what this day really means.
On this last entry of my series honoring Veterans,
I wish to pay homage to a few more American heroes
whom I have the privilege of knowing, some as my former
students, all now as friends.
I lost track of the number of times John Larrivee deployed to the sandbox. Seems like every time I turned around, I heard from someone that he was deploying again.
When John first sauntered into my classroom, he sat down in the back row, slumped in his chair. He was the ultimate cool kid with an attitude about any class whose syllabus mentioned reading and writing.
From the first time we spoke, however, I gathered that he had a military bend…and that after this final semester of school, he intended to plant his sneakers on the yellow footprints of Parris Island. The administration usually put studentss like John in my classroom knowing my heart for working with kids heading off to the military.
I knew how badly John wanted to be a Marine and I was quite skilled at knowing how to play that game of dangling the carrot of MCRD Parris Island in front of his nose to get him through English 12. Several times throughout the semester, I would gaze back at John and a haunting image would flood my imagination – images of him hunkered down, cigarette dangling out of his mouth, M16A2 perched on his shoulder, peering out of a second floor opening of an abandoned building the same color as the sand beneath. I believe in prevenient grace, and prayed that angels would go ahead of him to protect him.
Finally, Twinsburg High School graduation day came and John walked, having barely squeaked through English 12; yet, he aced Marine Recruit training, earning the globe, anchor, and eagle.
I heard from John not too long ago—he’s all grown up now, with considerable hearing loss and a few other wounds of war. He’s out of active duty but has found another way to serve in the civilian sector and is a wonderful father to two beautiful little girls.
Andrew Hejl and I used to rib each other in class because my classroom walls were plastered with Naval Academy and Marine Corps posters, but Andy had a dream of serving in the Army—always had. He wanted to keep up the Army legacy of his GrandDad, Dad and brother. Andy’s marvelous sense of humor came through in everything he wrote in class—a gift which would come in handy during his service in wartime. Andy served until his body said no more.
John Larrivee and Andrew Hejl, Kevin Siska, Brent Susnik, Jacob Fischer, Brett St. John, Clark Haymond, Ray Keffer, Tyler Glover, Logan Trombley, Ethan Trombley, Tim Nosco, Bethany Herschik, soon to be Kathryn Simecek, and so many others. All are my heroes—I love each and every one of you like my own child and can never thank you enough for your service! It was a privilege to be your teacher and an honor to be your friend!
God bless these guy and gals--characters all, but who ooze more character than anyone with the highest level of education, political power, or financial success!
