- Joined
- Jul 27, 2011
- Messages
- 61,835
- Reaction score
- 52,077
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Independent
So I’ve decided to go back and finish grad school. I haven’t been in a couple of years, so I have to reapply, and turn in 3 more letters of recommendation.
My first thought was to contact a couple of my professors from undergrad, as they gave me my first letters of recommendation. I emailed one, and his email bounced back immediately. I then googled him to get his address from the high school where he also worked as Freshman Counselor.
Instead of finding his email, I found his obituary.
He passed away in January of 2021. I don’t know how he died - only that it was sudden.
He was such a wonderful person. He was my first professor when I went back to undergrad to finish. He ended up being one of my favorites. We used to go out for coffee between class, just to talk. We were both rare birds - democrats in South Georgia. He was gay, and I was the first person he told at the college when he got married. He knew I would understand, and be happy for him. I was. Our class was also the first to find out that he’d finally gotten his Ph.D. He worked so hard, and so long for that. He finally got it in his late 50s, and we were as proud to be able to call him Dr. Roy as he was to hear it.
His field was psychology, but his specialty was child psychology. I was having behavioral trouble with one of my daughters, and he was always there for me. He explained her behaviors, and helped me to deal with them without losing my mind.
One of the classes I took with him was Human Development. Each week, we delved into a different part of growth and development. The first week was inception, then the fetus in utero, up until birth. The second week was baby and toddler years, and so on. He had a policy of allowing you to drop your lowest test grade if you’d not missed any classes. He came to me at the end of the term, after class, and said, “I want to speak to you about something. Our next class is our final class, and it deals with the final stage of human development. Death.” He knew that I was struggling with Don’s mortality, so he said, “You haven’t missed any classes, so if you skip next week entirely, you will keep the A you have right now. The grade won’t change because I will drop your lowest test score.”
I cried. He went that extra mile for me, and he didn’t have to.
He was a wonderful man, and I loved him to death.
I wish I’d kept more in touch with him, because now I don’t even know how he died.
I do know I loved him. He was a wonderful professor, and an even better friend. My heart is broken.
Rest in peace, my friend.
My first thought was to contact a couple of my professors from undergrad, as they gave me my first letters of recommendation. I emailed one, and his email bounced back immediately. I then googled him to get his address from the high school where he also worked as Freshman Counselor.
Instead of finding his email, I found his obituary.
He passed away in January of 2021. I don’t know how he died - only that it was sudden.
He was such a wonderful person. He was my first professor when I went back to undergrad to finish. He ended up being one of my favorites. We used to go out for coffee between class, just to talk. We were both rare birds - democrats in South Georgia. He was gay, and I was the first person he told at the college when he got married. He knew I would understand, and be happy for him. I was. Our class was also the first to find out that he’d finally gotten his Ph.D. He worked so hard, and so long for that. He finally got it in his late 50s, and we were as proud to be able to call him Dr. Roy as he was to hear it.
His field was psychology, but his specialty was child psychology. I was having behavioral trouble with one of my daughters, and he was always there for me. He explained her behaviors, and helped me to deal with them without losing my mind.
One of the classes I took with him was Human Development. Each week, we delved into a different part of growth and development. The first week was inception, then the fetus in utero, up until birth. The second week was baby and toddler years, and so on. He had a policy of allowing you to drop your lowest test grade if you’d not missed any classes. He came to me at the end of the term, after class, and said, “I want to speak to you about something. Our next class is our final class, and it deals with the final stage of human development. Death.” He knew that I was struggling with Don’s mortality, so he said, “You haven’t missed any classes, so if you skip next week entirely, you will keep the A you have right now. The grade won’t change because I will drop your lowest test score.”
I cried. He went that extra mile for me, and he didn’t have to.
He was a wonderful man, and I loved him to death.
I wish I’d kept more in touch with him, because now I don’t even know how he died.
I do know I loved him. He was a wonderful professor, and an even better friend. My heart is broken.
Rest in peace, my friend.
