Sypien

I went to a vocational high school. My class was the first class to come in as Freshman, previous students did not come to the school until they were Sophomore's. My first period class during my freshman year was a computer class taught by a teacher who had taught at the school since it opened in 1965, I didn't know on that day how influential that teacher would become to me.

When we entered our Junior year we began to study our chosen vocations, we spent 3 to 4 hours a day in our vocational classes. For me this meant spending all of my time haunting the computer animation classroom, drawing, learning, playing and laughing. My teacher was Don Sypien, the same teacher I had known since my first day in the school. I had him as a teacher all four years I was at the school. He was a laid back teacher, he spoke to a goofy bunch of teenagers like we were his friends, giving us his opinions on everything from Disney's style of animation to buying stock in Microsoft. Even more than sharing what he thought was the fact that he listened to us, he took interest in who we were as individuals and encouraged us to follow our passions in life.

I wasn't the most talented student in the class, I was creative but not as knowledgeable about the technical side of computer animation. Sypien always pushed me to compete with the boys and paired me with the most technically skilled student to help me learn. After high school, when I knew I wasn't going to pursue computer animation as a career, I remember him encouraging me to go into health care. He knew I was a people person and enjoyed helping people. I laugh that it took me 10 years to see what he saw then and can only imagine he would approve of my choice to become a Dental Assistant.

Last year he became my Facebook friend, it was wonderful to have contact with him again. I loved seeing his opinions on movies, all the old photos he had from his school days and all the pictures of how he was spending his retirement. His wife Joanne, passed away on November 4th. I sent my condolences and my last contact with him was in December. He passed away on January 4th, 2 months after his beloved wife.

It is always sad to lose someone who was such a strong part of your life. My thoughts go out to his family, who I know he adored, he will be missed.