Who was your favorite teacher at Manual?
Or your least favorite?
Be sure to say "Why".

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I had a History Teacher that I really liked.  TOMMY MOORE.  He kept things interesting and fun.  Unfortunatly he passed away our Senior Year.  He and at least one other Teacher went to the Old Timers Dinner they used to have during the Winter and Mr Moore died there. Harry Painter told us in class about it the following Monday.

                                         
 

I was in Mr. Dunbar's Chemistry class and I must have learned something about Chemistry but what has stayed with me over the years was a saying he had posted in his classroom. It read...

"Life is a matter of choices, we make the choices and the choices make us!"

In December 1969 I made a choice to go to a party encouraged by Dennis Helm who said, "Byrd, there will be free beer and women!" Well of course I went. It was there that I met my future wife Vicki and that made a huge difference in my life!

Mr. Gallamore taught Manual's Mechanical and Architectural drawing classes. I loved it. Because of him for a time I was enrolled in Architecture at Ohio State. I still use what I learned in his class in my wood shop drawing plans for the projects I make.

These were two of my favorite teachers.
                                 

I would have to say, without a doubt, Mr. William Kleyla was my favorite teacher.  Probably most of the band kids would say that.   We definitely learned hard work and discipline from him.  He pushed us beyond mediocrity, but we had a lot of fun at the same time.  One of the things I remembered him saying was, "Your clutch doesn't stop slipping until you are about forty."   I didn't know much about clutches, but I think I got it.  He gave a lot of fatherly advice.   

I really didn't dislike any of my teachers.  Two more teachers I really liked were Mr. Johns (who I had for International Relations) and Mr. Cummins (Biology).  Mr. Cummins let me come back my senior year and do cadet teaching in one of his classes.  I recall fond memories of many of my teachers at Manual.  Our teachers there gave us a high quality education.

         
        
         

 

I have two nominees.  Jame Gable was truly a mentor and a big influence on me.  Many evenings I worked late in the darkroom processing film to meet an Ivian or Booster deadline.  So Mrs. Gable drove me home in her 1958 Impala convertible.  If we worked very late to shoot Redskin Review she took me to dinner at Morgan’s.  She also brought me used clothes that her son had out grown.  She also got me a scholarship to journalism camp at IU.

She instilled the motive in me to be the first graduate in our family!

                  

I would also like to recognize and salute our school nurse,Virginia Edds.  Mrs Edds was a veteran of WWII & Korea serving on a hospital ship in the South Pacific .  Virginia is now 95.  Jackie and I enjoyed lunch with her three times.

          

My favorite teacher was Bill Kleyla.  I moved to Manual my freshman year from southern Indiana to a school with enrollment larger than the town I grew up in.  The only thing I had in common with anyone was that I played trumpet.  Mr Kleyla gave me a new family, the encouragment to expand my talent and the help I needed to adjust.  His door was always open to me if I needed advise.

        

About  25 years after high school we happened to run into Bill Klelaya in Dayton Beach managing his sporting goods store.  I proudly introduced my daughter to him who struggled with marching band at her small country school.  I asked Bill, “How many state championships did you win at Manual?”  Bill replied, “ 9 out of 10 years!  We did not win the first year!”  My daughter ‘s jaw dropped!!!

Chuck 

I would have to agree with Bill Byrd, Mr. Wayne Dunbar was my favorite teacher.  I had him for chemistry class, and it was one of my favorite classes.  He displayed a strong passion for teaching, and he inspired me to go to Purdue and earn a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.  One day he came into class and wrote rickytickyrimborimboalimantipanticovanascoschutts on the chalk board, and then he asked for volunteers to pronounce this word.  No one could do it.  He next broke it down into parts        ricky-ticky-rimbo-rimbo-alimanti-pantico-vanasco-schutts, and I still remember it over 50 years later.  His point was that you can learn complex things by braking them down into individual components.