MR. STAPLETON

Mr. Stapleton was a math teacher at Clarke. I can't recall is first name. I think he primarily taught 8th grade. But I could be wrong about that.

Stapleton's room was in the southeast corner of Clarke, on the end of the six-room section, right next to Mr. Longhini's room.

I never had Stapleton for a teacher. I think some kids really liked the guy. That surprised me. Because he always seemed like a tough disciplinarian type. But others thought he was cool - I think. So who knows.

See Brad Strouf's comments in Steve Cook's entry for a story about him.

Stapleton was sort of tall and thin. He also had a beard. He reminded me a lot of a late-1950's bongo-playing in a smoky nightclub beatnik. Perhaps it's because he would often refer to students as "cats." Something tells me he was Irish. I have a vague memory of him wearing some sort of giant Irish hat on St. Patrick's Day. I also remember seeing his son in school one day. If memory serves, his son looked to be my age. He also looked to be the troublemaking sort. Of course I could be totally off base.

I don't know where Stapleton is today. He's probably retired. If I'm not mistaken, his wife was a substitute teacher as well. As much as I didn't want to at the time, I kind of wish I'd had him as a teacher.

UPDATE 8/2/06 - Thanks to Brad for reminding me that Stapleton's first name was Patrick. I may have been wrong about the young man I thought was his son. It looks like Mr. Stapleton and his wife (who do appear to reside in Two Rivers to this day) do have two sons. But neither of them are close to my age. They are about 15 years younger.