Goodbye, Larry
I’m continuing the extended process of cleaning through old papers and folders from my high school and college classes and going through my notes from 12th grade physics and found this exchange between me and my teacher, Larry Cannon:
Me (footnote): It’s been said that science “isn’t pretty” so keep the beauty of my myth-shattering diagram on the next page in mind when you grade this, OK?
Mr. Cannon: Science is pretty - it’s the most beautiful thing around (next to me, of course!)
It was this July while I was traveling in Alaska and I was at the hostel in Denali. Cell and data coverage was awful and I would walk back to the road or the front desk wifi to make calls and check email when I got a message from Scott telling me that Larry had died. It’s pretty hard to get to absolutes when talking about teachers but Mr. Cannon was definitely one of the most important teachers of my life. He was one of the reasons I tried to major in physics in college and I consider the day he sacrificed his regular class lecture to talk with us about integrity one of the most influential days of my years in high school (that lecture would become the theme for my college application essays).
It’s moving to read the eulogies from his students and my classmates, but the assurance that his influence lives on through those of us who he touched is really uplifting.
So goodbye to my most beautiful high school physics teacher. I’ll miss you, Larry.