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The following article/obituary appeared in one of the local papers here, and it speaks volumes about how important teachers are in the lives of the children they teach. John Thompson was one such man, and I am honored to have known him. :)
"CHAIN OF MEMORIES: ARCOLA JUNIOR HIGH'S JOHN THOMPSON REMEMBERED AS TEACHER AND FRIEND
From the Marshall, IL Independent
ARCOLA -- Sixth-grade teacher John Thompson's room was quiet Monday.
It was a school day at Arcola junior high, the first day students returned from the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. Remnants of classroom activity just before the Thanksgiving holiday were evident everywhere. Papers lay atop Thompson's desk. In the far corner of the room's whiteboard, a weekend math assignment.
The homework request was one of the final things written by the 55-year-old Thompson, who planned to retire in the spring. He died Friday morning at Sarah Bush Lincoln emergency room following a massive heart attack he suffered at his home.
Students returned to school Monday, and almost all had already heard the sad news.
Counselors from the local ministerial alliance talked with students Monday, helping them deal with their grief. Teachers worked with their own classes, and as the day wore on students gradually returned to their regular studies.
Assistant Principal Chuck Schoenheit said the district's secretarial staff called all of the sixth-graders' homes over the weekend to inform them of Thompson's death. "I don't think hardly anyone came to school (Monday) morning who wasn't aware of it," Principal Ron Cross said. "(Thompson) was certainly a favorite of all the kids--- they loved him, and it shows today just how much."
Thompson, a sixth-grade social studies teacher, taught in the school district for 28 years. Cross said he and Thompson became the "coolest teachers," after building their reputations as the only two faculty members who were able to boot a kickball over the school's roof.
"I'm trying to remember things he said," 6th-grader Sean Edwards said. "He would always post a quote from someone. One of the last ones he put up was, 'If this were the last day of your life, how would you treat people? Then start treating them that way.' He always did that," Edwards said, as tears ran down his cheeks.
Some students were apprehensive about returning to Thompson's classroom. Others, however, wanted to be in his room. "Most of the children just want to touch his desk or his sit in his chair, anything that was a part of him," Cross said. "Even tape. Some children are going around with pieces of tape from his desk stuck on their arms. Others have asked if they can have a pencil or a paper clip, just any little thing that belonged to him, to have as a keepsake. Of course they can."
Seventh-grader Santanna Ficken sat in the front-row desk she occupied when she was in Thompson's sixth-grade social studies class last year. Her eyes were puffy and slightly pink fromcrying, clearly mourning the loss of a teacher and friend. Later, her mood had brightened as she recalled events of the first day she met Thompson in the classroom.
"He came in that morning, and the phone rang," Santann said, running to the intraschool phone hanging near the door. "He took the phone and dropped it. He picked it up, listeneda while and then stuck it in his shirt pocket. Then he said, 'Mr. Cross talks too much some times' , and that made everybody laugh."
While Santanna no longer had Thompson as a teacher, she said she stopped by his room every day just to talk. "I also chatted with him on Yahoo, and I e-mailed him jokes," she said. "He was always there for me. He was my friend, and I knew he cared about me."
Outside Thompson's room hung a growing link of paper chains scrawled with messages from the students. They students called it the "chain of memories."
Fr. Peter Hsu, rector of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Arcola, one of the grief counselors on hand, helped several students hook a new section of brightly-colored paper chains above the doorway to Thompson's room. "These are our links of love," Fr. Hsu said, coming from the classroom. "The plan is that if kids feel a little anxious or feel the need they can hang more links." Fr. Hsu noted that some of Thompson's colleagues had also hooked their own links in the chain. "The kids need to know that it's OK to grieve, and I think this helps them to understand that, seeing the teacher's links alongside their own."
Mr. Thompson is survived by his mother, Maria, 3 brothers, 4 sisters and 21 nieces and nephews. The Mass of Christian Burial for Mr. Thompson will take place Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Arcola, with burial in the church cemetery. Visitation will be at the church from 8:00 a.m. until the time of services. Those wishing to memorialize Mr. Thompson may do so with donations to either Catholic Charities or the American Heart Association."
NOTE: Any typos, etc., are my own. The paper does not appear online.
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