Paul Richard Hain
Welcome back, everyone! When Ron mentioned teaching 15 years post retirement at Webster Grove High School, I was reminded of a CBS television production by Charles Karault. He told an interesting report about the Webster Grove students, their interactions with each other and teachers and staff back in 1966-67.
I was in junior block at the time of the broadcast, studying a curriculum focusing on what we now call middle school and high school. My instructor used Karault's report to teach us many things, especially the social dynamics we would face as new teachers. We weren't ready to test our wings, yet. We observed in the local high school and practiced lessons in a limited way. Ron's mention of WGHS instantly brought back those days in the classroom. It is a school with a famous past. I'll bet Ron contributed to its fame. 🙂
Dee (my wife) and I got the first shot of the Moderna vaccine today. No reaction whatsoever. We got it at Walgreens in our little town. Second dose scheduled in a month from now.
I am still working as the supervisor of Richmond Township, Illinois. Elections are in April for another four year term. I agreed to run again, but may not finish the full term. No, I'm not planning on dying, I just think there is a time to turn the reins over to younger people. I work with people in need of food, shelter and clothes. This is a brutal time of year. Lots of people in need. My small staff operates a senior transportation program that has been shut down since last March because of COVID. After fifty years of service, the three members of the Richmond Township cemetery board resigned last May. Nobody (least of all me!) knew anything about running four cemeteries. I appointed two other trustees to help. The oldest grave is 1791. We had to learn to survey, sell graves, mark locations and seek help to repair a massive mausoleum that is 117 years old, solid granite and falling apart! I don't mean to creep any of you out telling cemetery stories. All I can say is that after 8 months of dealing with this, I have lost any fears, aversion, dislike of the subject whatsoever. My goal now is to maintain the ancient histories and dignity of these sacred grounds that pre-date when Illinois became a state. Homesteaders worked the rich prairie, made roads and tiny villages with burial grounds. Now, they're entrusted to us to operate and maintain.
Richmond Township is a beautiful 36 square miles of two smallish villages that are nestled in mostly farmland and conservation district. You can park along a township road and watch the colors change over the prairiescape as the sun goes down. Even now, the glow of warmth from the setting sun suggests spring will soon be here. Year round we have chickadees, finches and bright red cardinals by the hundreds that happily eat and sing on the feeder, even in all this cold. Peace, everyone.
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