Robert ‘Drop’ Dropkin, former... well, read for yourself:

Schreiber, 1974

 

It was sure sad to hear about Mr. Boyle. I was supposed to be in his class with you all but switched out (quite a mistake) because I had not done any algebra yet and due to my "wonderful" NYC schools math experience had no math confidence and was afraid I would never catch up. As a result I ended up having to catch up as a senior doing the AB Calc class ("DROPKIN MATH" as Mr Meistrik called it). My father says that teaching is like throwing a pebble into a still pond, you never know where the ripples will end. One thing I always think about is the people I hope I will have helped, whom I never met because something I taught a student or resident helped them help the patient. You have no idea how future generations of your students will have a different attitude toward their educations because you influence a grandparent or great grandparent to be the first in that family to go to college and thus changed the educational culture in that extended family. We know how underpaid and generally underappreciated teachers are but how rewarding the work can be. Your group of students I'm sure always helped to reinforce in Mr. Boyle the wisdom of his career path and your admiration and love for him must have given him tremendous gratification. 71 certainly is alot younger than it was when we were 14 (although it remains a "prime number", only you Russell!) but thankfully this is a story of short term illness and hopefully minimal suffering.  Having had a loving family and students like all of you, I'd say Mr. Boyle lived a full, happy and successful life.