By the time I entered his 7th grade English class, I was quite familiar with "the gesture."  In this class Mr. Hall immediately singled out three students:  Suzanne Niedzwiecki, Keith Booke, and me.  I was quite flattered to be put in the same category as these two straight-A students, because I didn't have a clue by then that I might be a good student.  In fact, I kept thinking that he had made a mistake by including me in this group, and he would eventually figure it out.  Obviously, he knew something I didn't, and, amazingly, from that time on, I made the Honor Roll.  Thank you, Mr. Hall, for seeing ability I didn't know I had, and instilling confidence in me! 

It was also in this 7th grade English class that I learned how to diagram sentences and my writing improved immensely.  After 7th grade (I moved on to Japan by then), I started winning awards in school and being placed in advanced English classes for my writing ability, another talent I did not know I had.  Of course, this talent has carried me through college, graduate school, and makes my work as a psychotherapist much easier since I need to capture some very intense emotions and events at the end of each session with my clients.  I believe that these successes further gave me the confidence to excel in other subject areas.  And, unbeknownst to me until now, a great deal of that credit goes to Mr. Hall for singling me out in his 7th grade English class! 

When I returned to Lackland High School several years later as a Junior, it was like I had never even left.  Mr. Hall, from his post outside his classroom across the hall from the principal's office (I can still picture him there between classes), recognized me immediately as one of the "Beck girls," and welcomed me back to Lackland!  He made me feel so important, yet I knew he did this with all his students.  He used to even greet my younger sister, Pam, in the hallways, and he never even had her for a class!  Mr. Hall made us feel remembered and like we belonged somewhere, and for us military brats who moved as often as my family did, those feelings were invaluable!

Whether he knew it or not (and I don't think even I realized it until I was asked to write about him), Mr. Hall was a very positive role model for all of us who crossed his path.  His love and concern for all the students who roamed his halls was genuine and clearly evident (as adults, we all know how difficult it can sometimes be to appreciate teenagers)!  I'm sure his appreciation of me influenced my ability to enjoy adolescents and work effectively with them as a counselor.  My mentor once told me that I have "an amazing capacity to love," and I'd like to think that Mr. Hall was one of the first to model that trait for me, because it describes him "to a T."

Mr. Hall, thank you!  I thank you and my family thanks you for being a part of my life and influencing who I am today.  I have been married for almost 25 years to an amazing man. I have two incredible children, and a career that I dearly love that involves helping people.  Your influence lives on and you will never be forgotten!