When I was a lanky, awkward 8th grader, Lila P. Burgoyne thought I’d grow up to be something special. She was the Roosevelt Jr. High School librarian and I was her 1st period teacher’s aide. She introduced me to Dewey and his decimals, Dickinson and her sonnets, and a seagull named Johnathon Livingston who introduced me to metaphor.
She taught, without lecture or syllabus, that who you read is who you become. And the frightful day that I left Roosevelt to transfer to Mt. Jordan, she gave me a hug and a wrapped package with four paperbacks which I immediately loved as much as I loved her.
Now that I’m grown, I'm not especially special, but the parts that are were made from Bronte, Bach, and Burgoyne.
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this, Lila is my grandma. It is great to hear a little more about her influence on those she taught. She certainly was a great woman.
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