Katie Elder
I am so sorry to hear of Mr. Waldron's passing. I was one of the lucky students who had him as my teacher for two years of high school when he moved from teaching juniors to seniors. At the time, he was one of very few adults in my life who seemed to know who he was dealing with with me, and rose to the challenge. He had a tremendous and accessible sense of humor (I laughed out loud when I busted out the old yearbook just now and read his note to me that included the sentence, "Just think, no more late assignments to try to get me to accept!"). He was also the only person who ever got me genuinely excited about reading (a role that, to this day, has not been filled by anyone else). He was uncommonly adept at creating valuable learning experiences for students representing a broad range of preparedness, skill development, and, if I'm honest with myself, motivation. I credit him entirely with giving me the foundations to be a good writer. I learned so much from him despite myself.
We reconnected a few years ago thanks to social media and I discovered to my delight that, in addition to being funny and a talented teacher, Mr. Waldron had great politics! I enjoyed our messages and griping about *these times* and regret that we never met for coffee to catch up in person.
I am an educator now and can only hope to have half of the impact on my students that he had on my friends and me.