"I pretty much left Stroudsburg in my rearview mirror after graduation and didn’t make any effort to stay in touch with anyone until recently. That said…some of names on this list surprise me. As a paramedic I deal with death more often than most…still…it gives one pause to read this list with only the memory of the fallen as teenagers with brimming with potential and their whole lives laid before them.
I don’t have a great many positive memories of my school life in Stroudsburg…but you were always one of my fondest. You never ceased trying to understand us and, when necessary, reach out to those you knew were foundering. Being an educator wasn’t a job for you…it was a calling…and it showed. The list itself is somewhat shocking…though the fact that you kept it is not.
You had a lasting impact on me as a young man and I have always been grateful for your being such a lasting and positive influence. Though you might have forgotten, one of the last times I saw you was following a school board meeting towards the end of my senior year where you met my mother. You knew far more about me than I had previously realized and it only reinforced my belief…that you really did try to know each and every one of us…as impossible a task as it might have been.
Thank you for everything Dr. Kelly…I know I’m not the only one that feels this way…doesn’t make it any less important for you to hear it."
