MR. CONRAD
Mr. Conrad (Stan) was a science teacher at Washington. I first met him in the summer of 1986. Having failed the second semester of science, I got thrown into summer school. Mr. Conrad was the teacher.
I got along with him really well. He was a nice guy. After class (or during breaks) we would sit and talk about movies. He was a big collector, as was I. I ended up passing the course with flying colors. But still, what a bummer to have to spend six weeks in school. The class was 2.5 hours long too. Ugh.
In my sophomore year, I had Conrad for biology. I was happy with that. I had him for 5th hour, right after lunch. See my entries on Ben Franco, Doug Wall, Ray Kaszuba, Tammy Franzen, Sheila Vanne and Chris Soppe for other memories from that class.
Other people in that class included Ross Hofmann, Kevin Minkel, Diane DeBauche, Valori Franco, Pookie Bergeon, Chip Pelnar, Brian Belongie and Janice Ericson.
Conrad was a pretty easy-going guy. He wasn't a yeller or a screamer. Yet despite that, the students never took advantage of him. He seemed to be generally well-liked and respected for the most part.
Conrad always used the word "divvy" in place of "divide." In giving us instructions for in-class science projects, he would always say "divvy it up." I know it's a real word. But still, it sounded so weird to me.
Conrad's class was the one and only time I was ever exposed to animal dissection. For us, it was frogs. Conrad also had us all prick our fingers to take blood tests one day. No, he wasn't lookin for diseases. He was simply seeing what blood type we all were. In fact, I can remember that Pookie Bergeon was deathly afraid to prick her own finger, and had a hell of a time doing so. On the flip side, I can recall Chip Pelnar ripping a hole in his flesh, as opposed to the simple pin prick Conrad wanted. Chip had a lot of blood flowing that day. Sheila Vanne didn't have to do it, as she already knew her blood type. I think she had some sort of card in her purse.
One last thing that stands out is when we were talking about eye color. I don't know if it's true or not, but Conrad absolutely insisted that it was medically impossible for a human being not to have the same color eyes as one of his or her parents. A quick show of hands in the room verified that - with one exception. Chris Soppe spoke up and said that her eye color was different than both of her parents. Conrad stated that it wasn't possible. Then he moved on. But I always wondered if anyone else grasped the implications of that brief conversation.
I believe Conrad taught for many more years after I graduated. I believe he retired only recently. To my knowledge, he still lives in Two Rivers. Sadly, his wife passed away in the fall of 2005. I believe they have three kids, two daughters, and of course class of 1989's Stan Conrad Jr.
posted by TWORIVERSWALRUS @ 6:47 AM
6 Comments:
Kind of an off-handed comment, but I thought I'd share....it is possible to have a child with eye color different than the parents. My parents both have green eyes and I have blue. Simply put, if both parents carry and pass on a recessive color gene, then the child will have that color. Two brown eyed parents (dominant) can have a child with blue eyes (recessive), if both carry a blue gene and pass it on. If just one parent passes on the dominant gene, then that color wins!
I guess I did retain a few things from school!!
Good to know. You must not have had Mr. Conrad then!
Tis true....I think it's a one in 16 chance of both recessive genes creating a recessive eye color like blue. My beauty Kate has very blue eyes and dad has brown and I have hazel.
People can have two different colored eyes. The rest I don't know.
I graduated from Washington High in 1974. I had Mr. Conrad for biology my junior year. He was a good biology teacher, but had a much larger influence on me as the baseball coach. He had a way of getting the most out of his players without yelling and screaming, unlike many other coaches everywhere. I went
on to play for the TR Polar Bears,and 4 years in the Air Force.
After I got out of the military, I wanted to try out college, on the G.I. Bill. Biology was the only thing from high school that I had any interest in. I graduated with a B.S. in Science & Environmental Change, and a M.S. in Forest Pathology. In some way, I feel like I owe my success to Mr. Conrad.
Tim Taddy
I graduated from Washington High in 1974. I had Mr. Conrad for biology my junior year. He was a good biology teacher, but had a much larger influence on me as the baseball coach. He had a way of getting the most out of his players without yelling and screaming, unlike many other coaches everywhere. I went
on to play for the TR Polar Bears,and 4 years in the Air Force.
After I got out of the military, I wanted to try out college, on the G.I. Bill. Biology was the only thing from high school that I had any interest in. I graduated with a B.S. in Science & Environmental Change, and a M.S. in Forest Pathology. In some way, I feel like I owe my success to Mr. Conrad.
Tim Taddy
Post a Comment
<< Home