One of the best people in the world died last week. His funeral was today. (At that link there are links to a number of obituaries, from newspapers in Brainerd, MN, to the New York Times.)
He was the 12th grade English teacher in my high school but departed to teach at Brainerd Junior College before I got to his class. Everyone loved him, as is evidenced by the comments from former students at the guest book linked from the site linked about.
His books are wonderful, in the same vein as those by Richard Russo -- small-town life, with all its quirks and humor and occasional darkness. Staggerford, his first novel, featured a couple things straight out of my high school: a cafeteria situated in the basement and a forbidding librarian*.
* I started to type, "Mary Kropp, where are you now?" But instead I decided to google her, just out of curiosity. Amazingly, I found her. She died in 2001 at the age of 93. I guess the mean ones live longest.
She may have been a wonderful person to her friends and family and colleagues, but among the students she was feared mightily. Unlike Mr. Hassler.
