Dear Miss Smith,

Thank you for teaching me to read. I wanted so badly to learn. My Dad was a great inspiration. He had lots of books and he always read them. He seemed to know everything about everything and I wanted to be just like him. Still, you were the one who did the hard work of leading me and two dozen other squirmy first graders through the maze of letters, step by step, and taught us how the letters made words and the words made sentences.

Thank you for not laughing like the kids did when I got that word wrong when it was my turn to read. At that point “horse” and “house” looked a lot alike to me. You made learning to read fun and exciting for me. Consequently, I grew up loving to read. I read for pleasure as well as for learning. Often it was more pleasure than learning, then later I wised up and learned to buckle down to really study. As Dr. Seuss told us:

“The more that you read,
The more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
The more places you’ll go.”

Reading has taken me many places through the years. Books took me to Australia, to Alaska and the Arctic Circle, to Antarctica and to the Middle East, all before I graduated high school. You had a hand in all that, Miss Smith. The learning that came with reading took me to many more places after high school. I’ve been all over America, and to Central America, to Africa and, yes, to Vietnam. Incidently, I’ve seen poverty on four continents now, and though the cultures differed, the poverty looked pretty much the same. I want to help do something about that. You’ve had a hand in all that, too.

I’ve learned much about my Scottish ancestors and heritage. That led to the opportunity to (twice) visit the little village southwest of Edinburgh whence our family took its name. Lovely country and lovely people. Because of the learning that came with reading, I had 30 great years in the fire service and loved (almost) every minute of it. I got to help a lot of people who were in danger; I even got to save a few lives. You had a hand in all that.

I’ve been blessed with a fine family - two sons who have grown into fine young men. They grew up loving to read, too. Some of the most pleasurable moments of my life were those times I had a lap full of little boy(s) and books, and we enjoyed favorite stories again and again. Now our two sons are each pursuing Master’s degrees. David spent three years with the Peace Corps in Africa and will likely spend much of his life there helping others. Tim loves history and will likely make his contribution in documenting and preserving history for generations to come. You have had a hand in all that, too.

Because of you, good teachers are my heroes and you are my favorite heroine.

Thank You, Miss Smith. I love you.

Lonnie, age 64