Semper Fi

We're going out of order on my list of reasons why I'm counting down to vacation, why I deserve vacation this year, to honor the memory of one of my favorite teachers and favorite people, Mr. J. Budd Grebb.

Everyone has something they remember most. Maybe it was that yearbook faculty photo of him sitting behind his desk, ready to pounce on any injustice or slacker that passed through his classroom. Maybe it was hearing him on the sidelines of a basketball game yelling "strike strike strike" while calling a play. Maybe it was his definition of D.O.A. Maybe it was his grades on all those maps you drew in his World Cultures class. Maybe it was winning or losing a Jeopardy match. Maybe it was one of his infamous quotes that he gathered during his "25 years worth of teaching and coaching." Maybe it was the nickname he gave you.

"Discipline. Organization. Attitude."

My nickname was Luella after Luella Parsons--a legendary Hollywood gossip columnist. Anytime he called on me to answer a question, which was often, he'd say, "Oh, Luella! What's the big news today?"

"Stand by the garbage, smell like trash."

Some days, we talked very little about the culture beyond that of our small town. But we got an education.

"Get out of the box."

The best days were when we'd start class by sitting in silence for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Our seats faced the windows. His desk was angled toward us from the back-left corner of the room. There was a bulletin board and chalk board on either side of us. He'd say nothing. He'd just stare. And we'd wonder: Will he start class with quotes or culture?

"Not huhhhh. Excuse me. Pardon me. Please repeat."

At the time, we thought maybe they were exclusive of one another. But as we got older, I talked to many former classmates who found his words to be true.

"Pay now, play later. Play now, pay later."

For those who never had the pleasure of knowing him, I always likened him to English professor John Keating from the 1980s movie "Dead Poets' Society." Like Keating, if you listened to him, if you opened your mind to him, he inspired you to your best possible version--which was more than you thought possible.

"A woman's place is in the kitchen--or wherever the hell she wants to be!"

And like Keating, he did some politically incorrect things, which yielded some pressure from the school board for his early retirement. It was a school board meeting that attracted Pittsburgh's broadcast news stations, during which I was quoted on WTAE for comparing him to Keating, and what my friends and I believed at 17 to be a social injustice.

"Big shots are often low caliber."

Mr. Grebb may have left my classroom, but he didn't forget about me. He wrote to me often, thanking me for standing up for him, reminding me to never give up on what I want. And more importantly, he encouraged me to work for what I want.

"Liscipline."

Because of the latter, I never forgot him either. We exchanged holiday cards throughout college, and I, like many of my peers, visited him during holiday breaks and trips back to the Mon Valley. He was always so genuinely happy to hear we were doing well and truly respected us as the adults we had become, charting our own course.

"I may hear the piper, but I don't have to follow."

Now, on this evening, one day after his death, I'm so proud that our lives met for the time they did. As former classmates and alumni rush to find out funeral details to pay their respects, even before an obituary has been posted, it's so clear how many people feel the same way. He was the very definition of a legend. And his legacy lives on in each one of us who will remember him.

"Semper Fi."