Saturday, May 23, 2009

R.I.P. B.D.!

I found out yesterday that my favorite teacher from High School passed away last week. John (Jack) S. Thorpe, better known as Big Daddy, or simply "B.D." has moved on to greener pastures. I could go on for many pages about BD, but suffice to say that he was one of only a few teachers to make a big impact on me, and by far the biggest. From teaching math (and especially statistics) to "coaching" backpacking; BD was a great guy, and made a difference in countless kids.

This is a photo from spring of 1977, my Junior year, scanned from a faded print. Taken on a backpacking trip along the C&O Canal, BD kicking back after a bit of a walk.

COWABUNGA, BD!

4 comments:

Sherry Pasquarello said...

nice to have such wonderful memories. i wish that every child would have a teacher like that.

Ol' Froth said...

Ahhh, the Big Green Suit! Thanks for posting that photo.

Ol' Froth said...

Mmm...I remember eating mac and cheese with spam in the drizzling rain along the canal...I don't know if it was the rain, or the locale, but few things ever tasted better.

MikeW said...

Thanks for the photo. I loved that Big Green Suit. I made a side trip to the C&O recently while in the area, and took a short walk to Paw Paw. Such great memories!