Mr. Joel Brunsvold and his group of rambunctious 5th graders
This is my first time posting to the Memoir Monday initiative by @ericvancewalton. I understand that we are on week #38, but I just have to honor my favorite teacher on this week #37 topic.
Mr Brunsvold was an exemplary teacher and shepherded his class around like the Pied Piper. Most of the class loved him dearly and those that didn't, at the very least respected him for his thorough attentions. We all flourished in his class.
Back then there were no fences around schools and from the first grade to the sixth, I walked to school through the playground, across the ravine and home for lunch, then walked back for the afternoon session.
One day when I came back from lunch I was talking with a group of kids and one boy asked me how the plane was coming. My father had been a carpenter all his life and had been building a 3 seater Cavalier airplane in our garage. Mr. Brunsvold overheard the conversation and came to ask some questions. He ended up asking if it were possible for the class to come to the house on a sort of field trip to see the plane. I had to clear it with my folks, then he made arrangements with the prinicpal and one day we all marched like little ducks to my house to see the airplane.
He always had fun, off-the-cuff stuff for us to do and learn from. It was my very favorite year of my entire schooling. Later in life he became big in the Illinois state legislature, and I often wondered why he stayed so long as an elementary school teacher when his brilliance was so evident, even to a 5th grader. He has passed, of course, and I still think of him and offer up thanks that he was my teacher at such a vulnerable time in my life. He is a big part of my unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
I stand in front of Mr. Brunsvold in this picture rocking my signature black bob lol.
Days when classroom never exceeded 24 children, teachers were devoted to their charges, giving us excellent grounding going into the future. We had many such wonderful teachers throughout schooling, some not so great possibly personalities.
Our Principle wrote a wonderful book "Present Please" John Vogel in 1964 about the time I was in Std 2 after completing Grade 1 and 2 we went into Standard 1,2 etc. A wonderful man who wrote about Johannesburg region in our years of growing up.
Congratulations on having a great teacher and father, how proud you sound about both.
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Thank you so much, Joan! Your Principle sounds like a great man and a great teacher. I'm sure he inspired many students to excel in their academic studies. It seems as though good teachers are a dime a dozen, but great ones come along a little more rarely. I do feel a sadness when I see the numbers each teacher is expected to handle these days. It doesn't seem fair to teachers and students alike.
Present Please sounds like an interesting read and I have found it on Amazon. It would be a good book to add to my library!
Brilliant Principle, we really had such wonderful teachers as well, of late this is sorely lacking.
In our country many good teachers have left, classrooms are filled to capacity, rural schools in such a bad state.
Then we reach the pupils, many simply get one plate of food per day at school, South Africa is really in a bad way after the last 30 years. 😭
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That is terribly sad. It's hard to imagine trying to pay attention when the growling of your stomach drowns out all other input. Those children are future leaders and business men and women and we can't even figure out how to feed them properly. It's going on all over the world in one way or another, with the kids getting forgotten while the adults chase power and wealth. It doesn't speak well for humanity.
Those who treat children in the manner they endure currently can thank the political leaders, false promises, payment in grants not being used in manner it's meant to be.
Last few years have shown how wicked many have become.
Nelson Mandela was a very wise man. It is nearly always the children that suffer and they are the least able to care for/stand up for themselves.
Nice bob! and a beautiful little story.
I had a pretty cool teacher ( during the last 3 years of primary school ), she allowed me to write stories with illustrations on the side, in notebooks that I specifically used for that purpose ( I still have them, 3 decades later ). I spent time on these, in school, when I had finished my other tasks.
I got back in touch with my teacher, Barbara, 2 years ago, to send her a signed copy of a(n illustrated) book I'd finished. She was happily surprised and said she still recognizes my style and was looking forward to my future books. Felt good.
Thanks so much for your visit!
It's probable that Ms. Barbara recognized your talents at that young age and had enough foresight to encourage them. Those formative years are so important. When you first mentioned those stories with illustrations I was thinking you should compile them in a book and bam!....next paragraph you have sent her a finished book, and signed at that! As good as you felt, you most likely made her feel even better knowing how much of an impact she made in your life. Good times!!
Hehe, Some teachers leave such an impact. I had one that taught us biology in High School. He was great at it and really connected with the class and one day I was looking at one of our weighty big tome-like text books and I noticed the author and I said Hey, Mr T, is this you? and he was like yeah, my side project! I mean, it was the text book that was used throughout the UK so he must have made a packet but still taught in the subject he loved.
Imagine your dad building a plane! Did it get off the ground?
Oh wow...he was famous and still taught school...that's dedication right there. I wonder how many students ever took notice of the author and made the connection lol. You are a great writer yourself and I don't know what subjects you love, but I know you write with great humor and I love reading it.
Yes, I went up only one time, but mom, dad and my little brother were always tooling around. Dad would fly it up to an airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin every year. I have a photo album somewhere of the whole construction..if I remember correctly, it took seven or eight years to complete, as he worked a construction job during the day. I'll look for that album and make a post on it.
I don't think many people made the link. Which was astonishing. I adore because we all called him Mr Torrance and his full name was on the sleeve.
But aye, he did it for the love!
Wow, that's awesome. Imagine that were your hobby! Plus other people's hobbies to shame!!
Mr Torrance was a humble man then, but that's a great claim to fame. Maybe he didn't want the association with the textbook to interfere with the kids' learning.
My dad was humble as well, and he always said 'I am just a builder, a carpenter'
I love humble people. You know where you are with someone who downplays themselves.
I wish I could be more humble but I'm a terrible braggart. Like the opposite of my own dad! He was an outdoor electrician. Like the ones that lay and connect places to the grid and tree used to say "I just dig holes" lol
Awww, Your dad sounds great! I wonder if anyone mistook him for an undertaker after saying he just digs holes lol. He would be a beloved man around these parts with as many power outages due to storms that we are plagued with.
Brag away...you're doing fine
Hehe, a bit of bragging never goes amiss 😃😃
Yeah, he had been all over the country as there weren't many of them that did the big giant cables. I have a photo of him standing in a hole. Still amuses me
Greetings @tamaralovelace ,
What a lovely story and a true one at that. Thank you...beautifully told!
Kind Regards, Bleujay
Thank you @bleujay for the kind words and for stopping by to visit!
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