The Gentleman Agriculture Teacher

The fellow at the center of these two photographs, the gentleman in the plaid shirt, is Temple Hill. The lady next to him in the orange blouse is his wife, Blanche. Temple and Blanche live on some acreage in eastern Union County, north of Marshville. Until a few years ago, Temple kept beef cattle, but now, at age 86, he no longer keeps any animals or treats the acreage as a farm. He is staying off the day when he and Blanche give up the farm and move to some sort of assisted living center, and he seems to be doing a pretty good job of extending that time. To get to this luncheon, they had to drive a total of about 60 miles, around Charlotte to Dallas. This is a reunion of teachers at Dallas High School and North Gaston High School.

Temple was an agriculture teacher, which morphed into a horticulture teacher as the world changed. He is a gentleman of impeccable civility who could just as well could have been the greeter at a court of royalty. Never, never, has he ever failed to be the unassuming friend, that would be welcomed, anywhere that he wanted to place his hat.

But, Temple had his edge and he did not tolerate incompetence. This gentleman taught me how to play checkers, when I thought that I was good, by wiping me out in precious few moves. Then he explained to me, you attack down the center of the board, not on the edges.

And Temple had one little weakness. He made great wine and he wanted his friends and fellow teachers to be able to partake of the juice. He would bottle it, wrap each bottle in a secure bag, and send it around to the teachers using one of his students. When the kid came to the door with a brown bag and said that this was from Mr. Hill, you did not ask any questions.

I was always proud to call myself a member of this bunch of teachers. I am now learning through Facebook just how successful many of our students became. And even thought he did not teach what we called an academic course, Temple was as sharp a blade as we had. His knowledge, which he would always downplay, was phenomenal.

This is one more life friend that I have because of those years of teaching, and one of us will go to the other's funeral, I am sure of it. Whichever does not matter. I love that my path crossed Temple's path. I am a better man because of it.