More than half a century ago, Rowland Green (1902-1971) taught me social studies, history and English at Kelowna Senior Secondary.
One year, he was my homeroom teacher and my desk was directly in front of his.
Long before I reached high school, some wisenheimer had referred to him as ‘Fossil’, no doubt because of his white hair and strict old-fashioned expectations.
The nickname stuck but was only used well out of his earshot.
Mr. Green set high standards for his students.
He demonstrated his own commitment to excellence by collecting our social studies and history notebooks to red-pen any grammatical errors.
Whenever other teachers spoke of him, respect was evident in their voices.
One morning before classes started, a silly prank of mine resulted in the two of us sharing a spontaneous laugh.
As a result of that brief incident, my opinion of him changed.
He was no longer the aloof authoritarian but rather a dedicated teacher who felt compelled to conceal himself behind a stern professional façade.
After graduating from high school, I often toyed with the idea of knocking on his front door to thank him for choosing to become a teacher.
Unfortunately, I never did.
Lloyd Atkins
Vernon
