Take time to thank a teacher, bus driver or coach. It means a lot

I’ve been thinking about thanks, more particularly the thanks I forgot to give to the teachers who shaped my life.

I should have thanked Mrs. Harder. Good grief, she was my kindergarten teacher and was kind and patient and she taught every one of my brothers and sisters, all five.

I should have thanked Miss Hogan, if only because she told me 10 was the golden age, the best age ever. At 10, in the fourth grade, I peaked.

I should have thanked Mrs. Currie, I guess, though I have never eaten a pickle since a year of her daily one-pickle-a-student pickle parties.

And what about Mrs. Smith? She liked to argue about politics, and in seventh grade I liked to argue about politics, too. I was full of myself, probably a bit of a jerk. She didn’t seem to care.

Did I thank her and the others? No, I just flew from one grade to another without so much as leaving a hand-written note behind. I was always looking ahead, never looking behind.

Don’t be like me. It’s time.

Right now, all you children (and parents, too), just sit down and write a thank-you note to a teacher, a bus driver, a coach, a counselor, anyone who made this last school year special.

I say this having read 300 or so thank you notes, the “Greetings of Gratitude” gathered electronically by the Geneseo Central Education Fund.

They’re individualized messages from students, parents and others to teachers and staff members at Geneseo Central.

The greetings are printed on individualized postcards with the front featuring student Savannah Andrews’ image of Geneseo’s Main Street fountain. The back has the words of thanks from a specific sender to a specific recipient. The cards are free to the sender, the cost being covered by Tompkins Financial.

I’m on the board of the Fund and get to read the messages as they flow in. Every year, they remind me of the impact teachers and others have.

“Thank you for everything because you got me to learn when I didn’t believe myself,” wrote one elementary student to a teacher this year. “Now I believe in myself and because of you, that's why I believe I can do anything. Thank you so much for everything.”

Another elementary student wrote:

“Thank you for teaching me stuff. You are amazing because you help me. I love that you always cared about me. I will always remember you and love you.”

“I will always remember you my whole life,” wrote another. “Thank you for being a bus driver.”

There were many, many more cards, quite a few of them from teachers thanking other teachers.

Others were from parents thanking the teacher, or nurse, or counselor or someone else at the school who made a difference.

Other schools have similar postcard projects — the Geneseo one was inspired by one conducted by the Pittsford Education Foundation.

Obviously, thanks can be given in lots of ways. However it’s done, I’m sure it’s appreciated. I just wish I had done it more often when I had the chance.

Spider John Koerner, a Remarkable Rochesterian

Quite a few of the more than 600 people on our ever-growing list of Remarkable Rochesterians were born here but made their name after leaving the area.

Such is the case of Spider John Koerner, the influential bluesman who died of cancer on May 22 at age 85 in Minneapolis, where he had lived mostly since he left his home in Irondequoit for the University of Minnesota after high school.

However, even though his career flourished in Minnesota, I think we can still claim Koerner as our own, so let’s add this musician to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at: https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/

Spider John Koerner (1938-2024): A celebrated guitarist and blues and folk singer, he grew up in Irondequoit and enrolled in the University of Minnesota in 1956. He would discover folk music, leave school, have a short stint in the U.S. Marines, and return to Minneapolis where he became a friend, and influence upon, Bob Dylan and, later, Bonnie Raitt. With Dave “Snaker” Ray and Tony “Little Sun” Glover, he recorded albums including the landmark “Blues, Rags and Hollers” in 1963. Then, in 1969, he and pianist Willie Murphy, recorded the celebrated “Running, Jumping, Standing Still.” Retiring for a time in the 1970s and living in Denmark, he returned to the U.S. and resumed performing, including at the 2012 Newport Folk Festival.

From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott writes Remarkable Rochester about who we were, who we are. He can be reached at [email protected] or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Greetings of Gratitude go out to staff in Geneseo school district