Lessons I’m still learning

August 28, 2026 Bill Crane

My days of formal education ended more than 40 years ago, yet the memories of those classrooms, many of those teachers and later professors, all remain so vivid in my mind.

My first-grade teacher, Miss Rice, was kind, sweet, new to teaching and very soft-spoken. Miss Rice announced a grand reading contest, before the holiday break. The winner would be the student who read the most books by the return from Christmas break, nearly 45 days away. I won the contest handily, having read more than 60 books. The prize was even better: a chess set. I will write more about chess later, but Miss Rice gave me the gift of critical thinking.

Fourth grade gave me the petite, and wound tight, Mrs. Morris. She was a thorough, and precise taskmaster, and she had me complete what seemed like Herculean learning tasks. I have written an entire earlier column about Mrs. Morris and my grandmother, Mary Crane, being responsible for what I hope is my still growing vocabulary.

My brother Brian, my sister Tanya and I were entered into the gifted program at our elementary school. As the oldest of the trio, being the last one selected for the gifted program gave me a bit of an inferiority complex. Though classmates started calling me Crane Brain in kindergarten, I thought I must be the family dunce. But Miss Autry taught us to try to use our minds, and to be proud of what they could hold. Miss Autry, who didn’t really seem to like herself very much, taught me to like me.

Nick Janoulis was a smaller man, built lean but solidly, like the wrestling team that he coached. His U.S. government classes were always fun and informative, and he had a quick wit, which provided a healthy challenge for my own. It was Coach Janoulis who started my lifelong interest in politics.

I ran cross country for most of my high school years, under legendary cross country coach Eddie Roberts. Perhaps the most valuable lesson he taught me, while attempting to help me lengthen my running stride, was to stop looking sideways and checking where my competitor was in any race. “Keep your eyes straight ahead on the road, which was often quite uneven, and focus on your pace, stride and breathing. Looking sideways will only slow you down, possibly trip you up and can easily take you off course,” he said.

I chose to take math, a subject I generally disliked, twice with Jeannie Mills. Other than memorization, math never came naturally to me. I scored higher on the verbal than the math portions of the SAT. But to boost that SAT score in time for college entrance exams SAT math was one of the last classes I took from Ms. Mills. Following her lead, I added 20 points to my next SAT math score, tying my verbal score. That SAT score bump allowed me to be accepted to all but one of the colleges and universities that I applied to.

Lynell Chance encouraged my vocabulary, my reading, and my writing. My frequent smart aleck remarks were at full steam at this point. Mrs. Chance was also the sponsor of our school newspaper, The Lakeside Legend. Once after a particularly choice remark by me, while still smiling and biting her tongue, Mrs. Chance said to me, “Mr. Crane, it seems you have so much to say. Perhaps you should consider writing it down…and then never showing it to anyone.” Even I laughed at that.

I wish I had done a better job of keeping in touch with the educators who did so much and meant so much to me. But if nothing else, I hope this word reaches them or their loved ones, as I once again say, “Thank you and God bless you.”

Now, back to class.