Long Retired Art Teacher Sends Message
Don Waits has been retired a long time. The former Huntington High School art teacher called it quits at the close of the school year in 1994, capping off a 26 year stint in the district. He recently resurfaced with an e-mail to Joan Fretz, district director of fine and performing arts.
“I think you might remember me, but it was so long ago,” Mr. Waits wrote to Ms. Fretz. During his high school tenure, Mr. Waits taught art history, painting and photography, a course he wrote the curriculum for and developed.
The e-mail message from the long retired faculty member was precipitated by modern technology. “Today, by chance, I happened to go to Huntington High School’s web site,” he wrote. “I found that so many new and exciting things have been happening since my retirement. In 1994 there was no digital anything! Cell phones were not even in use. Huntington had a rather primitive computer and video program, with John Killelea teaching video production.”
Mr. Waits came to Huntington after completing 104 undergraduate credits at North Western State University and earning a bachelor’s degree in art education at Louisiana State University in June 1967. He obtained a master’s in fine arts at Tulane University in May 1968.
Collaborated with Music Teachers
Mr. Waits officially began his Huntington career on September 1, 1968 and retired on July 1, 1994. “Andy Housholder had been the music department chair for most of that time,” he wrote to Ms. Fretz. “I had a marvelous relationship with the music department since I incorporated a great deal of music in my art classes, especially in art history. The success of that class was due, in large part, by our field trips to the Metropolitan and New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic and many other musical events in Manhattan.”
Being a proverbial stone’s throw from one of the world’s great centers of art wasn’t wasted on Mr. Waits. “All of my students became familiar with the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Met, and all of the many galleries in SoHo and midtown,” he told Ms. Fretz. “Chelsea was a long way off. I have heard that some of my former students still have lunch every Saturday at Fanelli’s in SoHo. Tom Karolyi, who was the string teacher as well as the orchestra instructor [at Huntington High School], and I became very close and I would often be a guest-lecturer for him.”
The two faculty members did plenty of collaborating over the years. “Our most successful partnership was a presentation of several examples of the Adagetto movement from Beethoven’s Seventh,” Mr. Waits wrote. “I had made a tape (that should date me) of five different versions of the first few bars. We had the orchestra ‘vote’ on which one was the best. Very heated arguments ensued to our great delight. On another occasion I had prepared several examples of different pianists playing the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The students were very opinionated and insistent with their reactions. This was true learning at its best!”
Website a Conduit
Former Huntington teachers contact the district from time to time. Some write directly to the website and others to current teachers or administrators. Many alumni also write, most of which asking to be put in contact with former teachers. The messages come in from all over the country and even across the world.
“Your web site afforded me the thrill of seeing how advanced you all have become,” Mr. Waits wrote. “The fashion show, in particular, was most impressive. Fashion drawing was the only thing we offered at the time. It has been 16 years since I retired, but I have never forgotten my happy days at Huntington High. I loved every minute of it (mostly, ha-ha) and adored my students, many of which get in touch from time to time.”
Now residing in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mr. Waits might be many miles from Huntington, but with a click of his mouse, a flood of memories returned to him.
Proud of Faculty
“I was always proud of the excellent faculty and the pleasure of working with so many as a guest in various classes,” Mr. Waits wrote. “Mostly, I was shocked and amazed at how well-prepared the classes were for my lectures, be they on Impressionism (in the French classes) to German Expressionism (for the social studies classes) to Abstraction (in the biology class) and drama in Mozart (for English teacher Tracy Cogswell’s theater kids). I hope this ‘cross-pollinating’ of disciplines continues.”
Each year there are fewer and fewer current teachers that once worked alongside Mr. Waits. He knows this, but nevertheless expressed pride and appreciation for the newcomers and the work they are doing.
“I know very few of the new faculty, of course,” Mr. Waits wrote. “Please pass on my best wishes and congratulations to all.” Ms. Fretz did just that, circulating the e-mail from New Orleans to members of her department and to district officials.
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