What have we learned from John Hamilton?

I attended a memorial service for my friend John today.  Although I did not hear the tributes from friends and colleagues (I am deaf), I was able to follow along with the minister’s Words of Hope because he was kind enough to email me a copy in advance.  The title of this piece is stolen directly from the beginning of today’s eulogy, but I will proceed down my own path as I recollect our friendship.

John was a one of kind.  A brilliant student who chose education as a career path and taught or worked at Paschal High School for fifty-seven years.  He was revered in the city of Fort Worth and the state of Texas for his success as an educator. 

He was inspirational teaching in the classroom, a mentor as a department chair, creative as an advanced academic coordinator, and selfless in his pursuit of providing rigorous educational opportunities for students who hungered for the next level of scholastic challenges.  

His chosen subject was mathematics, but John embraced learning as a lifetime pursuit in all subject areas. John might casually mention expanding one’s vocabulary through ‘learn and use a new word every day’ computer programs in much the same way that I might mention yesterday’s football score. He was a believer that the acquisition of knowledge is a lifetime pursuit.

Since John’s passing, I have been reading online tributes from scores of former students and colleagues describing his impact on their careers. The minister at today’s service described the number of lives that John touched as growing exponentially through the years when his lessons passed from coworker-to-coworker and from generation to generation. In the minister’s words:

The presence of one person, choosing to invest in another…
is transformative to the nth degree.

I thought of the engineers who described John contributing to their decisions to pursue careers designing electrical components for spacecraft, to design buildings and bridges, and to design cutting edge bio-medical devices.

I thought of my classmates who described John’s influence in the classroom that encouraged their decisions to become doctors, and teachers, and to pursue careers in the military.

And that phrase:

The presence of one person, choosing to invest in another…
is transformative to the nth degree.

Well, that rang true for me.  I suspect that we would all wish to be remembered for positively influencing so many lives through our chosen profession.  But I will offer a different story of John Hamilton.

I have known of my friend John for more than forty-five years.  He was the head of the math department at Paschal High School during my four years as a student there.  My introduction to ‘Mr. Hamilton’ came during freshman orientation when he encouraged incoming students to register for the most advanced classes offered.  He did this presentation in the school auditorium using an ‘announcer voice’ that would become a part of our everyday lives for the next four years. 

Mr. Hamilton was well known at PHS for his support of advanced academic pursuits of all types.  Whiz Quiz, National Honor Society, Student Council, and Leadership Committee were all a part of Mr. Hamilton’s contribution and thus his ‘announcer voice’ was frequently a part of daily announcements.  He could often be heard saying such things as:

Please fill-out the goldenrod form that can be acquired from the front desk in room 231. 

If you weren’t a member of the National Honor Society (and I was not) then you might well have asked: ”What is a goldenrod form?”  To which a member of said Honor Society would have rolled their eyes at you and answered “Yellow”.  You did not have to be in Mr. Hamilton’s class to benefit from his influence.

During high school. I recall being in Trigonometry Class when I was called to the teacher’s desk.  “Mr. Medlin, she said, “perhaps you might consider dropping this Trigonometry class.”

“But I am having fun in this class, and I would like to continue.” I replied. “Well, perhaps you are having too much fun.  I suggest that for your future academic success, it may be best if you transferred into something more useful such as shop class,” she offered.  And thus, my educational career in mathematics came to an inglorious conclusion. 

My point here is that by failing in my attempt to instill some fun in Trigonometry class, I was destined to miss any opportunity to cross the threshold of room 231 where classes such as Calculus and Differential Equations were typically being taught by Mr. Hamilton.  And thus, I completed my high school career without ever having the first-hand opportunity to interact with Mr. John Hamilton.

Many years later, my wife went to work as the office administrator in the Paschal Advanced Academics office.  The Academic Coordinator Emeritus the day she began was none other than John Hamilton.  I quickly learned from Pam that John was an exceedingly caring, compassionate co-worker who was constantly looking for the next, ‘right thing’ to do.

The minister today stated that John had learned the golden rule early on and was committed to ‘doing unto others’ each day of his life. 

Through Pam’s involvement in Advanced Academics, we became semi-frequent dinner companions with the Hamiltons.  As such, I was often seated next to John in social situations.  Admittedly, these began rather awkwardly.  The Trigonometry ‘drop-out’ seated next to a revered educator was an ‘odd couple’ type of moment. But what began as the ‘drop-out’ seated next to Mr. Hamilton soon became a friendship. Because, as I was about to find out, John Robert Hamilton taught the best of his lessons when teaching by example.

John had a knack of finding the best in each of us. He was genuinely interested in our lives, our hobbies, our families, and could share many tales to expand on the information gathered to further that conversation. John knew the importance of supporting each of us to be the best that we could be. He often sent me notes encouraging me to write more ‘essays’ and to share my stories of a silent world.

In my discussions with John, (the ‘Mr. Hamilton’ was dismissed at his insistence) I soon found that every conversation was going to include an update on his children and later included updates on his grandchildren.  He was a dedicated father and grandfather. 
Unconditional love was on display with each interaction.

A trip to the Hamilton’s home was always a treat.  John was not only a wonderful cook, but a wonderful husband.  His interactions with Sharon, could be playful and teasing, but there was an obvious respect for the love of his life.  He genuinely seemed to endeavor to please Sharon each day.  
John was a devoted husband.

When he discussed academics, John could tell stories of talented students in the past for more years than I could calculate and could identify future high school students with bright futures who would not enter the doors at Paschal for years to come.
John simply lived a life committed to academic excellence.

He ended every school year with a meal for those with whom he worked.  He appreciated his co-workers and made sure that they knew that he appreciated them.  Pam came home every Christmas break with a hand-written note and a token of his appreciation.  John did indeed ‘do unto others.’ 
John Hamilton was a compassionate man.

And so, I reflect on the title of this tribute… What have we learned from John Hamilton?

As for this Trigonometry drop-out, I can say that I have learned lessons in encouragement, in wisdom, in unconditional love, in devotion, in excellence, and in compassion. My friend, John Hamilton lived a life dedicated to an age-old philosophy. Thank you, John for reminding me every day to ‘’’do unto others.”

Thanks for listening!

Your friend,

KBM
Kevin Medlin
kevin@mysilentpew.com