If you’re looking for life lessons, who better to ask than someone who has been teaching for more than half a century?
That was my thought process when I called up Bill Keary earlier this month after being informed that he was retiring after 50+ years of teaching elementary and high school in West Vancouver. Keary is a bit of a legend in West Van, according to those who have encountered him since he started teaching at Westcot Elementary in 1972. He’s made stops at Chartwell Elementary, West Van Secondary, Hillside Secondary and back to West Van Secondary, where he’s spent the past 27 years. If he ever taught you, you likely remember him well. And he very likely remembers you too.
“He seems to know everyone,” said fellow teacher Alana Reemeyer. “Anyone he meets, he gets their life story figured out within a few minutes and makes some connection with someone else that he knows. Then he remembers all about them – he has an incredible Rolodex in his brain. Every year, he’s meeting new students who are children (maybe even some grandchildren!) of people he’s taught before.”
His gift of knowing everything about everyone – including all the branches of their family tree – has earned him the nickname “The Mayor of South Campus” at West Van Secondary.
So how does he remember 50 years of names and faces?
“Eye contact,” he told me, about his name-recall superpower. “I have a really good memory for names. I wish there were more money in that, but it’s a great skill to have.”
In fact, eye contact might near the top of Keary’s keys to success list.
“Eye contact is so important, actually,” he said. “Paying attention when people are speaking to you is so important. People pick up on that.”
That lesson certainly resonates with me. In this age of the cellphone, people young and old often struggle to pry their eyes away from the little screen long enough to acknowledge the human being standing next to them. That change in perspective, in fact, is the one change that Keary noted in students since he started teaching 50 years ago.
“The kids haven’t changed much,” he said, adding that the main change has come from our internet-connected world of instant gratification. “They seem to expect things instantly, whereas before they used to wait.… They interact with the person sitting next to them online, which is ridiculous as far as I’m concerned.”
He is very quick to point out, however, that the kids he encounters today are still incredible, just as they were 50 years ago.
“They’re fantastic. They’re out of this world,” he said. “The kids are spectacular. I’m so blessed to have that.”
And the kids have taught him a thing or two as well. Keary is known to be a strict teacher, but the students have softened him up.
“They’ve taught me tons of stuff,” he said. “They’ve taught me to be really empathetic, which I think is really important. And I’m still working on that.”
That last line comes with a laugh, which is another important lesson. Even if you’re “strict,” there’s always room for laughter.
“I’m very strict, but also a lot of fun,” he said. “You’ve got to laugh – that makes things easier…. I always say that we can agree to disagree. I think it’s important that they know that – we can still be friends if we don’t agree on a subject. The whole world needs to know that one.”
The “strict” label is deceiving too, said Reemeyer, as no one puts in more time at the school offering help and guidance to students.
“His classroom is like a tightly run ship, but he does so with love, care and humour so the students really respect and respond to him,” she said.
So where has this life philosophy left Keary, at least according to his school colleagues, after 50 years in the classroom?
“He is the most incredible teacher and an amazing human being,” said Reemeyer. “He’s famous among current and former staff and students as well as many in the community. It’s really difficult to sum up the impact he’s had on our community, but it’s truly been an extraordinary career both in terms of quality and quantity.”
That sentiment is echoed by Karina Zanrosso, another teaching colleague.
“Bill has such infectious energy and a zest for life that is truly rare and remarkable,” she said. “Bill’s dedication to teaching and to his students is inspiring. He is respected and admired by staff and students alike…. There are likely thousands of people in the community that have in some way had their life enriched by this wonderful human.”
Keary, meanwhile, said he is still learning after all these years.
“I look at every year as a brand new year, a fresh start,” he said. “And hopefully I’ll get it right this year.”
There you go, one more lesson from a teacher who has been getting it right for 50 years, but still said he has room for improvement.
Andy Prest is the editor of the North Shore News. His lifestyle/humour column runs biweekly.
