Peter Sipe

Challenger Crew

“They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.”

Gym class came to a halt when a kid ran in and shouted: “The Space Shuttle exploded!”

I was a middle school student then, I’m a middle school teacher now. To honor the Challenger crew we read the transcript of the president’s speech on the evening of the tragedy.

We also watch this short film about one of the astronauts, Ronald McNair.

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I teach about the Challenger each year in a two-part lesson on how small causes can have large effects. “The first story is not a happy one,” I warn the students, and we learn the consequences of low temperatures on O-rings.

The second story, however, is joyous: “The Doughnuts,” by Robert McCloskey, the tale of a mechanical malfunction’s several benefits. I like to think the Challenger crew – especially the teacher – would approve.

Kevin White

“Martin Luther King loved this city, and it’s up to our generation to prove his faith in us.”

Kevin White’s obituary provides a short course in local history. His tenure (1968-1984) saw the development of, for example, Quincy Market.

It also included one of Boston’s most painful episodes, the busing crisis.

With the holiday Monday, we discussed Martin Luther King’s connection to Boston, as well as how, and why, our classroom would have looked differently before the city’s desegregation of schools.

And then we watched the beginning of the concert below. Now known as “the night James Brown saved Boston,” it features a short speech by Mayor White, four months into the job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lZZ_FCn9PY

We only had time for the first two songs, alas. I don’t think any of the students had seen James Brown perform before; most didn’t recognize his name (although everyone knew “I Feel Good”). Teacher pro tip: if you want your kids to leave class in a better mood, end with a James Brown gig.

The Saint of the South End

“She always was purposeful. She always knew what she was doing and why she was doing it. She sometimes lived among criminals and alcoholics and drug addicts and people who were mentally ill, and nothing rattled her cage. No one who knew her will ever say they saw her angry or frustrated.”

When Sister Eustace spoke out, it was to defend those attacked by others. She might wade into a fight between teenagers on a sidewalk to quell the violence, or raise her voice if anyone criticized the presence of immigrants. Pointing out that her mother was born in Italy, “I say: ‘Where did your grandmother come from?’ ” she told the Globe in 1992.

Sister Eustace’s obituary gave us the opportunity to write about how we could be purposeful in our lives.

We learned from it the following vocabulary: sanctuary, renowned, sensitivity, fanfare, quell, and aura.

(We also had some fun discussing what it means to “rattle one’s cage,” and shared what rattled ours. Judging by the responses, we’ve not – not yet, anyway – achieved Sister Eustace’s serene temperament.)

Kim Annette Shepherd-Garcia

Each year before winter break, my students and I read “The Gift of the Magi.”

This year we read it along with the recent obituary of Kim Annette Shepherd-Garcia, a Philadelphia hairdresser.

Both texts share a tonsorial theme, but more importantly, both are heartwarming accounts of marital devotion. Jim and Della would have understood the following:

When Kim was stricken with multiple sclerosis and years of slow decline followed, [her husband] Greg was there every day to care for her. He had a simple explanation for why he did it: “I loved her.”

Each text also includes examples of quid pro quo, a term we learned from her obituary:

Kim also taught [her husband] Greg how to work in her beauty salon… Greg taught Kim how to drive, and she got her driver’s license.

One student pointed out that Ms. Shepherd-Garcia must have been a canny practitioner of quid pro quo, obtaining Greg’s help in exchange for his help!

Olene Walker

“That I was kind and caring and somewhat intelligent. That I was willing to listen. And that I was not only willing to talk, but I was willing to do. That I worked my best to improve conditions for everyone in the state.”

David Brooks talks of “eulogy virtues,” what’s talked about at your funeral, as opposed to “resume virtues,” what’s talked about in your job interview.

Olene Walker’s Salt Lake Tribune obituary gave us the opportunity to discuss what we’d like people to say about us 100 years from now.

Her obituary taught us affable, fortitude, persona, and discombobulation. We also learned from it why flags are flown at half-staff, and what it means to clean someone’s clock.