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  • THOMAS GOOD DEMONSTRATES ONE more science experiment with his replacement, Joseph Powers, during a luncheon held at the Otesaga. MICHELLE MILLER | THE COOPERSTOWN CRIER

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July 14, 2011

Nine retire at CCS

BY MICHELLE MILLER

STAFF WRITER

On June 26, Cooperstown Central School sent members of the Class of 2011 out into the world to begin new journeys.

But the students will not be the only ones starting on a path unknown.

Nine CCS employees recently had one last hurrah at a luncheon at The Otesaga before taking on the next milestone in their life  r etirement. It was an emotional get-together, but comical as well. There were gift exchanges, trips down memory lane and even science demonstrations. According to Superintendent C.J. Hebert, the retirees represent 265 years of experience.

FRANCES HESS

Amy Kukenberger, school business and building administrator, joked and said she was not sure if she was qualified to speak on behalf of someone who had been teaching longer than she has been alive. She was referring to Francis Hess who has been teaching at CCS for 43 years.

Hess taught at other school districts before her long career in Cooperstown, but said she mainly taught Earth science and advanced placement environmental science while at the district. Throughout the years, she also taught biology, AP biology, and electives such as astronomy, weather and computer applications.

Hess, who lives in Laurens with her husband, Wayne, said she became  interested in teaching at an earlyage. She said that as a youngster she frequently played school with a neighborhood friend. Hess received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in secondary education at the State University College at Oneonta.

The mother of two said there are too many fond memories of CCS to begin to list. However, she said she will miss the students, their families and colleagues.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have been part of the lives of so many families and am very proud of the broad range of accomplishments of my students,” Hess said in an email. Hess said although she is retiring, she plans to remain professionally active. Activities Hess said she enjoys outside the walls of CCS include gardening, biking, traveling, cooking, baking and technology.

Kukenberger said Hess was the first CCS teacher to have a SMART Board in a classroom and did things such as write grants to enhance technology opportunities in the science classrooms. “Fran has been using technology to teach and advance student learning long before the district had a network and the world became so accessible to students and staff through the Internet,” Kukenberger said.

THOMAS GOOD

Long-time science teacher Thomas Good, who officially retired last summer, was also recognized at the luncheon.

“My whole life has revolved around being an educator,” Good said in an email after his retirement was  announced.

Good spent 39 years educating high school students. He taught and mentored students at CCS for 35 of those years. Before his long career at Cooperstown, Good spent  four years teaching at NewBerlin Central School.

Good said he grew up in Brockport and attended parochial school from kindergarten until seventh grade. He said teachers were all female and all but one were nuns.

It was not until he went to  public school, where he hadhis first male teacher, that he was inspired to become an educator.

According to Good, the highlights of his career were, “every time my students excelled, be it in the classroom with high grades, creative labs or when students had insight that led to understanding of a difficult topic or in extracurricular activities successes such as going to states with the  Science Olympiad, going toNationals with the quiz team or winning the Rube Goldberg competition at Union College or going on a senior trip that was planned by the seniors.” Good said he always enjoyed being challenged by students’ questions or thought processes.

“As a teacher, I remained a student as well, learning from my students about everything from technology to music,” he said.

Good served as the senior class adviser for more than 30 years, coached Science Olympiads for 35 years and coached quiz team for 39 years.

In 2002, Good lost his son to cystic fibrosis. Good said he thinks that having a child with such a deadly disease helps him appreciate time with the people he cares about.

Since retiring, Good has spent time with family and said he is enjoying being a grandfather. He has also worked on chemistry and physics Regents exams at the state Education Department as well as substitute teaching at CCS.

PETER HENRICI

One might question where Latin is taught in high schools anymore. Cooperstown is one district that is still offering the language, and although Peter Henrici is retiring, he has agreed to come back for most of the day next year to teach Latin courses.

According to Secondary Principal Michael Cring, Henrici is a “professional man in every sense.” Cring said Henrici is able to use his sense of humor to instigate students in ways to make them think and express themselves.

Henrici stepped up to the podium with a stack of papers. He said, “I prepared a speech, but this is not it.” It was the work of former students.

He then told everyone that becoming a teacher was the farthest thing from his mind when he got out of college in 1979. Henrici said he was ready to get his Master of Business Administration degree until he ran into his high school Latin teacher one summer. He said he convinced him to go in another direction in his life and when that came to an end, he decided to get a master’s in social studies at SUNY Oneonta.

According to Henrici, his wife read in the local paper that Cooperstown was looking for substitute teachers in economics and Latin. He asked, “What person in the world majored in both of those subjects?”

Henrici said he went to see Barry Gould, principal at CCS at the time. He said Gould told him he would let him teach if he was willing to teach Latin. Shortly after, Henrici said the Latin teacher resigned and he got the job.

“I lucked out,” he said. Henrici has been with the district 34 years and said he will be leaving with 444 unused sick days. He said CCS is a great place to work.  “Where else could I haveworked for three left-handed principals?” he asked.

DEBORAH KISER

Deborah Kiser was one of those lucky people who found work right out of college. She graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 1976, student-taught Don Howard’s eighth-grade  social studies class, and washired to teach at the Hartwick Grade Center that fall She has been a teacher at CCS ever since. “Teaching was my career and my hobby,” wrote Kiser in an email. “It was my life.”

Kiser has taught several grade levels throughout the years. She  last taughtfifth-grade social studies, but has taught second-grade, fifthand sixth-grade language arts and fourth-, fifth- and sixthgrade social studies.

When asked what she would miss most about CCS, Kiser said, “The different ages of students were all great in different ways.”

Overcoming challenges at various points and coming out on the other side in a positive way is always satisfying, according to Kiser, who lives in Fly Creek.

She said, “As the song goes … there are always mountains to climb. Not every day was easy, but over a lifetime you only remember the good moments.”

Teaching a unit and then seeing how much the students learned is gratifying, Kiser wrote. She said she also enjoys seeing the projects students create.

“My favorite has been the travel brochure project the fifth-graders create after researching each year,” she wrote.

When teaching the younger grades Kiser said she loved the plays and the Friday morning get-togethers with Mr. Thorn playing the piano and all the students singing their hearts out with the music. “My favorite memento is a beautiful quilt that was created for me by my secondgraders one year,” Kiser wrote.

“Several mothers assisted and  did the hand sewing. I stillhave that and look at their artwork and their names.”

At all levels of education Kiser said she likes the part of the day where a book is read out loud.

“The sharing of the story creates such community within the room,” she wrote. Kiser said she hopes to work  with future teachers duringher retirement.

MARGARET YAKOS

Margaret Yakos began her career at CCS in 1981 as a food service worker.

Hebert said Yakos epitomizes an open, inviting and caring attitude toward all her customers.

“From my first trip through the line with Mary Jo (McPhail, past superintendent) during the interview process, until yesterday, I’ve been impressed with the family atmosphere that Margaret has helped create,” Hebert said during the luncheon.

Yakos stepped up to the podium and joked that her husband told her she would be scooping soup until she was 80 years old.

“I’m not quite that yet,” she said.

According to Hebert and other speakers to follow, Yakos did not mind tending to special orders and requests. Yakos always had a smile on her face, Hebert said. Colleagues said she was always saying things like, “How would you like that?” “Is that enough?” “Would you like a little extra?” and “Would you like that in a bowl or on a plate?”

Cring was asked to stand. Then to go get a dessert for Yakos since she had served him lunch for so many years.  He went outside to the dessert table and broughtin a piece of cake. Everyone laughed and gave a round of applause.

MICHELE TOWNSEND

Michele Townsend is a Cooperstown native. She served as a reading specialist at the Cooperstown Middle/High School for 26 years.

“Mostly I will miss my students, the faculty and the staff at CCS,” Townsend wrote in an email.

She said her teaching career has given her the opportunity to work with so many “wonderful” students. However, she has not only served as a role model for her students, but has served as a mentor to younger teachers at the district.

One of those teachers spoke on Townsend’s behalf at the luncheon. She said Townsend provided her with knowledge and support when she began her teaching career at CCS.

There was always that one teacher who had an open door and an open heart, and the colleague went on to say Townsend was that teacher for her even though she was not a student.

The colleague went on to say Townsend has been a “guiding light” in many student’s lives and when you think of her the words guidance, friendship, discipline and love come to mind. Not only does Townsend help students academically, but she also helped them emotionally, she added.

Townsend said she plans to spend her retirement with her grandchildren and traveling. Other activities she said she enjoys include family-happenings and working in her flower garden.

WAYNE WEIR

Cring said for several years he read the announcements in monotone fashion because he knew how much it bothered Wayne Weir. He took a collection of those announcements  Weir created throughoutthe years and read them aloud at the luncheon with excitement and as though he might be announcing the next WWE wrestler into the ring.

This got several chuckles from the crowd and a round of applause.

Weir has served in several roles during his 24 years at CCS. He was a physical education teacher, health educator, driver’s education instructor and coached wrestling and track.

Cring said he often describes Weir as a guy who has a bark but no bite.

“Inside he is sensitive, caring and has a heart of gold,” he said. “I’ve watched him champion young people, not only in the classroom, but he has used the athletic field and his coaching ability to, I would say, keep dozens of young men and women in school through graduation.”

According to a speech given by a formal student, Weir was not the friendliest teacher at the school and would even start some of his courses by saying, “This is not a huggy, huggy kumbaya class and would you pull your Huggies up and grow up.”

The former student said he learned the following from Weir:

“If you can’t play with the big dogs, then you should stay on the porch.” “You can’t fix stupid.”

“If you eat woodpecker eggs and bark at the moon then you are all set.” and “The term ‘you weenie’ is actually a term of endearment.”

A letter was read from another student. It read, “If you have taught me anything at all, it is that first impressions are not everything. Very simply put, if I had continued viewing you as a huge unforgiving bulking mass undermining weaker generations, then my fond love of you would have been impossible.

But as it is, I had to have you for an entire half of year of school twice giving me ample time to have many different first impressions of you.” The student’s letter went on to say that Weir provides the bare honest facts.

“There is a much bigger world outside these Cooperstown school walls, and an even bigger world outside the town limits,” the letter read.

Weir took the podium and told everyone, “Life is not a dress rehearsal, play hard.”

He said he was not going to share any “warm and fuzzy stories,” but could not resist reminiscing some, thanking many people and exchanging goofy gifts with other colleagues.

ROXANNE MURRAY

Full of energy might be the best words to describe CCS  second-grade teacher RoxanneMurray.

According to her husband, Kevin, who provided some comedy at the luncheon,  “You may bemarried to Roxanne if you get a speeding ticket in Cooperstown for walking.” Murray began her teaching career in New Lebanon.

She taught there for six years before having children and taking time off to raise them. “(That was) one of the best things I ever did,” she said in an email.

Murray has a daughter and two sons. She said she went back to teach in New Lebanon  for a few years before movingto Oneonta, where her children graduated high school.

Throughout her teaching career, Murray said she taught a variety of grade levels.

“Teaching has been a way of life for me for well over 30 years,” Murray wrote. “I like to think that I’ll always be a teacher. I love to teach.”

Murray said she will miss the children and “awesome” people she has worked with. She said she will also miss learning new things every day.

Reading chapter books to children, visiting the Thanksgiving Home, making Sand Babies, participating in the Great Mail Race, sending care packages and notes to Afghanistan, going to the Nutcracker Ballet, the year the bees drove students out of the classroom into the library on the first day of school, and pen pals in Florida, Stamford and Pittsford were some of Murray’s most fond memories while at CCS she said.

She said two students, one from Pittsford and one from Cooperstown, stayed in contact for years after secondgrade and met several times.

Colleagues said one of the things they will miss most about Murray is her reading voice_ she takes on the characteristics of all of the characters. Some of the books Murray has been known to read her students are the “Upchuck” and “Rotten Willie” series and “Walter the Farting Dog.”

According to Elementary Principal Teresa Gorman, Murray’s room was always full of energy. She said Murray’s excitement and passion always came out in her students and Murray has learned to bring an extra set of clothing because she was not puked on just once this year, but twice by the same student.

Murray said she plans to spend retirement spending more time with her soon to be six grandchildren, traveling, gardening and exercising more regularly. She said she would also like to read throughout the year, not just during the summer, start knitting Christmas stockings, quilting, scrap-booking, reconnecting with old friends  and “whatever else strikesher fancy.”

Murray said she would like to spend the winters somewhere else.

EILEEN MURPHY

Eileen Murphy worked as an artist in her studio before beginning a career at CCS. She said she spent many hours alone, mostly working with clay. Murphy was hired as reading teacher and later become a part of the sixthgrade team.

“For me that was the beginning of the best possible educational system I could be a part of,” Murphy said.

Murphy became the middle and high school art teacher.

According to Cring, she took on several leadership roles during her 19 years with the district. He said Murphy served as a sixth-grade team leader, spent 12 years as the middle  school student council adviserand has headed the art club for the last four years.

“Usually when you walk into Eileen’s classroom, you will see her standing on a desk or on the chairs,” Cring said. “It is either happening all the time or I have very good timing.”

Cring said Murphy creates a classroom atmosphere  where students have respectand trust with one another.

“I believe that her passion for what she has done is something that helps instill all of her colleagues to have the vision for what has occurred over the last 15 years in middle school education,” Cring said.

As student council adviser, Murphy was able to get students to think globally and locally and improve in what they do for community service, Cring said. Cring said if he were to choose one word to describe Murphy, it would be gentle.

He said he enjoyed their one-on-one conversations and thanked her for teaching him throughout the years.

Murphy said she walks away from the middle school community being much more than she was before.

She said she plans to step back into the art world.

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