March 6, 2021
Dear editor;
Did you ever have a teacher who had an impact in your life in ways which truly matter? At K.D. Waldo Junior High in Aurora, I discovered the most stimulating seventh-grade classroom was taught by a commanding presence, the late Mr. Roy C. Everson Jr. of Montgomery.
Built of solid muscle, the rumble in his voice would boom like a clap of thunder if anyone dared to act up during his never-boring lectures in geography class. His black hair, mustache, and beard, were accompanied by twinkling eyes.
Teaching and learning were serious business to Everson. Never missing a workday during his 35-year career at K.D. Waldo Junior High before retiring in 1994, he came to class fully prepared. This dynamic educator had the audacity and ability to actually excite teenagers about geography and history, which is no easy feat.
The consensus from this discerning age group was that Everson was a gentleman of exemplary character. He expected a great deal from us and from himself. He was the real deal – the genuine article.
Sharing his knowledge with humor and energy, Everson made believers out of thousands of fortunate students on the East Side of Aurora who understood his classroom experiences were the best in town.
Along with breathing, water, food, and shelter, geography and history became central to our teenage existence. With precision, he made us work for our grades and with our classmates during team projects.
After each quiz and test, he seated students in the order of the grade received causing us to study harder for the next assignment as we jockeyed to move up. Balancing strictness with fairness, he respected us by challenging us. Over the decades, adult colleagues respected him and sought his wise counsel as he served as a mentor to many teachers and coaches.
When necessary, Everson used unique methods instilling life and character lessons that kids carry their entire lives.
Mr. Everson taught me the reward of hard work, loving one’s work, curiosity, and possessing a sense of adventure. Bestowed to the top freshman at K.D. Waldo Jr. High, I am certain Everson influenced my receiving “The Principal’s Award.”
Do you have any idea what such a vote of confidence did to this Greek girl’s esteem and vision of what her life can be like? Through my international development work, I now possess U.S. passports filled with the maximum number of pages and countless country stamps having traveled to and worked on every continent except Antarctica and South America. My teacher often comes to mind during my travels.
Although he clearly had a passion and gift for teaching, Everson’s greatest love was his beautiful wife, Leah, a third-grade teacher for 17 years, enjoying a blessed 63-year marriage which produced four children with solid characters, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. This loving duo enthusiastically traveled the world. Throughout his 84 years, Mr. Roy C. Everson, Jr. lived a full and well-balanced life with grace and did his best for his family, friends and students. May his memory be eternal.
Since Summer 2015, Penny Panayiota Deligiannis has been working with authorities on the Aegean island of Samos, Greece, to assist and improve the plight of more than 1.2 million refugees and migrants who arrived illegally in Greece on makeshift boats through Turkey from their original countries of origin. Deligiannis is a former student of Roy Everson Jr.
Penny Panayiota Deligiannis, Aurora