It's back to school time around the country, so I thought there would be no better way to kick-off September than with an episode honoring educators!
I dialed up a couple of teachers that have had a huge impact on my life; Coach Jim Wells, who was an history teacher and an athletic coach for many many years in my home town of Reesdport, Oregon, and who, with his wife Mary Ann, also a retired teacher, continues to be a vital presence in our community. And Mike Allen, choral director of the high school three of my kids attended. He shares his passion for music with his students by creating some of the MOST AMAZING programs including an annual Madrigal Feaste and Broadway production that give students an opportunity to showcase their creative abilities as well as their musical talents.
Please join me on this episode of LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah, as we honor educators for all they do and all they are! ~ Delilah
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Hi there, Welcome. Welcome to Love Someone with De La La, my podcast where I get to talk about things that I love. I mean, I talk about things that I love on my radio show, but my radio show, I try to keep it focused on my listener, So the most of the content that you'll hear on my show at night is me asking questions and then my listeners telling their stories. But with this podcast, I get to explore topics and talk about things that I am passionate about. And the thing that I am most passionate about in the world is encouraging people to use the gifts, the talents, the skills, the resources that God has put in them. Then we go through life experiences that stretch us, that challenge us, that help us to become more empathetic, more understanding, more patient. And when you take all those things and put them together and then use that to change the world for good, that is the best thing in the whole world. And I think some of the people who do that best, or at least do it most consistently, are teachers, educators, teachers, principles administrators, the cook in the kitchen at the cafeteria, the crossing guard, the bus driver who is patient and doesn't lose their mind when kids are standing up and throwing spitballs. The people that work to help children to be the very best that they can be, to develop a love passion for learning, so that you're a lifelong learner, so you don't stop studying, so you delve into things, You ask questions, you're excited about learning about nature and seeing wildlife or wild berries or wild birds. Teachers that put that joy in a young person's heart to learn, to grow, to develop, Those are some of the most underappreciated people in our midst and so this podcast is all about teachers and educators and the support staff. This podcast is going to focus on the unsung heroes of our life. Before we talk to our first person, we want to salute an honor in this podcast. We're going to take a moment to say thank you to our sponsors, the people who make this podcast a possibility. It feels like summer, It still looks like summer, but that beautiful green lawn you have now doesn't stay that way unless you treat it well. With the Home Depot's wide selection of fall lawn care products, change your grass for the better and for the cold months. Ahead with products from Scots the Home Depot's garden department. My favorite part of the store is where you will find the right stuff and some very helpful people too. The Home Depot More saving, more doing. And so in this podcast, we are going to talk with people who are teachers and talk about teachers and educators and just honor them for the heroic work that they do with very little applause, and yet they do it. They show up. They don't just show up. Good teachers in Curridge and they help and they care. They care about their students, They care about what's going on in their lives. When a child is sick or hurting, they care. And I have a lot of kids and a lot of them have special needs, and my kids have had some phenomenal teachers. In fact, going to try to get in touch with one and include him in this podcast because he has had a profound impact on three of my children who have had him in school. Hi, mister Allan, Hey, how are you I'm good?
How are you I'm great?
Have you got like five minutes to talk to me? Maybe ten? About teaching? Yeah, So, since it's back to school time, our podcast this week is focusing on educators, teachers, principles, people who make a differen in the life of kids. And I said, you know, there is somebody that I didn't have as a teacher, but that my kids had as a teacher, who had a profound impact on their life. And so I wanted to call you and talk to you about teaching, about how you keep doing it when you get beat up so bad and yet you just keep giving. It's like the giving deree.
Yeah.
So you've been teaching, mister Allen choir music for how many years?
I'm starting my thirty first year.
Always music, always music, yep.
My first my first job was a K twelve music teacher. So I taught K six general music and then I had seven through.
Twelve choir thirty one years. Yeah, and I know that the road has not always been well.
Paved, not always, no, not always.
Some rough times, some bumps.
Yeah, there have been definitely have been some bumps. But I'd say I would say the vast majority of my days are pretty darn good, and I look forward to getting to work every day. I don't think I've had many days in my thirty years of teaching where I was like, oh man, i'd rather be doing something else. I can't. I probably can't count that number on on one hand. It wouldn't get beyond one hand there for sure. I think sometimes, you know, we're kind of given that gift that we get to do what we love to do every day. And I don't think most people have that, but I think some people do. And that's the people that just kind of stick with it forever. I've thought at one point, you know, like what would I do. I've had that conversation with my wife too, but I don't know that I can come up with anything else.
And what a great gift that is. How old were you when you knew that a music was going to be your thing and b that you had a gift for teaching you people?
Oh? Man, I mean I knew music. I wanted to do music from a pretty young age. I'd say, maybe middle school. I started to really think about, you know, kind of career, like what would I want to do with my life? And at that point it was really, you know, I wanted to be a rock star. I wanted to be a performer, you know. And I did that a little bit as far as like playing you know, garage bands and stuff. And I had two music teachers in high school that really kind of changed the course of my life. Mister Ogrin was my first high school music teacher choir director, and then he left, and Dean Sands was my next, and they both just influenced me in such a positive way, just encouraging me as a musician but also as a person like I just, yeah, they just really encouraged me as a human being. And when I saw what they did and how much passion they had and how much joy they had, I just thought, this is my thing. I just wanted to do this for the rest of my life.
And how lucky are you? How bloody you that the beautiful young woman that you took for a bride when you guys were kids. Your picture you look like you were maybe fifteen. I know you weren't, But that she supports that.
Yeah, she and my parents and my kids, my own personal kids, you know, have been huge supporters. My parents up until my dad got kind of sick and ended up passing away. But they would drive up from Oregon to come to my concerts that I was directing, even up here, so they'd drive up and see my concerts. And my wife is at everything, and my kids went through my program and still come back to Madrigal feast and stuff. So yeah, I've been super blessed to have a support system like that.
For sure, you're not just a teacher, and I know you know that. You don't just teach music. You teach life lessons. You teach teamwork, you teach accountability, you teach being there for one another, you teach acceptance, you teach so much goodness while you're teaching the notes.
I think that's one of the things that music really does, is it teaches us about life and and about how to be you know, how to love, and how to be passionate, and how to be accepting of lots of different things because we do lots of different genres of music. So that's an easy way to just talk about how everybody has value and importance and you know, the least talented person to the most talented person, we make up that a chemistry that comes from that makes up what are awesome and amazing you know, groups of people. So yeah, it's it's hard. It's almost hard to put into words how important education is in that sense that that we have a chance to teach people. Curriculum to me is secondary to teaching kids just I don't know, I don't know as does that make sense?
It makes perfect sense. And and you do both very very very well. I mean, you teach the curriculum very well. I got to stand in the audience and enjoy how many dozens of concerts that my kids participated in, and the notes that they would hit, and the madrigal feast and the productions they would put together in the Broadway show that you turn over to the kids and say, Okay, you want to do this, you want to put on Broadway show, You're going to do it. And they did it.
YEA.
Costuming and choreography, it's amazing.
It is. It really is breathtaking to watch.
And the creativity these kids have on a shoestring budget, you know, they go to the Goodwill or Salvation Army or whatever and they come back with these costumes that are just amazing.
Yeah, I think one of the cool things about again about music, and I'm sure it's another you know, in other academic areas too, But for me to be able to, like you said, cut the kids loose, you know, teach them and give them tools and then be able to see them just take off and just you know, make it happen, and it is amazing to watch. I'm in the audience too for Broadway show, and I just am every year teared up and excited about just what they're pulling off is just amazing.
I love Madrigal Feast. I didn't get to go. I don't think i've been the last two years. But if you do it this year, I'll be there. And I haven't missed a Broadway show in years. They're so good, so good. Well, I appreciate you. I appreciate what you mean to my daughter, what you meant to my son, what you meant to Bridget. I just I love your heart. I love your willingness to serve. I love that you coach. I love that you sacrifice your holidays and your summers and you're days off to pour into kids' lives. And like throwing a stone in a still pond, the ripples of your life have intersected with so many of us.
I hope, so, I mean, I hope that when you know, when all of a sudden done, you know, they talk about leaving a legacy, and I just hope that you know, a lot of times, as I look at this thing, I don't performances, and the trophies are awesome.
But.
I just want to look I want to look back on it and have kids say that they grew and they they learned and all that, but also that they, you know, just have a passion for life. Whether it's music or it's you know, theater, or it's you know, working as an engineer or being a parent, whatever it is, that they just have a passion for life and that you know, what we did in the COORL program kind of helped that.
Well. I want to thank you.
All right, thank you so much, and I appreciate you as well. And you know your kids were you know, they leave an impact on me too. I've had thousands of kids go through the program and they all leave an impact.
Mister Allen was such a huge inspiration to my kids, and I'm so glad he was available to chat. Next, I'm going to read a letter sent to me by a young man named Travis. Travis is already discovered at the tender young age of six, something that took me many many more years to comprehend. I received an amazing letter from a young adult named Travis, and it touched my heart. So I wanted to share it with you. Travis writes, I dropped out of high school going against all I knew was right, and I regret it to this day. I told my teachers I would get a GED, but I never went and signed up. Well about a week ago, one of my teachers called me and told me to get ready because I was starting my GED classes on Monday. Never in a million years would I have expected a teacher to do that for me, after all the trouble I had caused them at school, and come to find out, all of my old teachers and the administration even paid for the classes I took. While listening to your show, I got to thinking about what you said. Teachers don't get enough credit for all that they do. So I want to play a song for all those teachers out there who change students' lives each and every day. I bet you still remember times when a teacher did something for you, and you, Delilah, have helped me to realize what a jerk I have been to many of my teachers when all they wanted to do was help. It seems a little ironic, but at sixteen, I'm writing this to you because I think I've grown up since I quit school, and I would give just about anything to go back. Thank you for all that you do. From Travis. When we come back, I'm going to try and get a living legend from my hometown of Reid Sport, Oregon on the phone with me. But right now I want to give a minute of time to this very important message. I have been very, very very blessed to have some pretty amazing teachers, and I was so blessed to go to amazing schools when I was a kid growing up. I didn't recognize it at the time. I didn't know how fortunate I was. I lived in a little logging community, but we were fairly well off. Not we my family, but the community was very well off because the logging industry was booming, and so our schools were well funded. We were tiny town, less than four thousand people, and yet we had an amazing staff at our grade school, junior high, high school. Oh my gosh. We had extracurricular activities that you wouldn't believe. We had a forestry program, we had an oceanography program, we had a boat, we had a home ac department that had like five kitchens in it, and we got to prepare food that we caught on the boat, and then prepare it in the kitchens and then feed families to raise money for our oceanography program. We had kilns in our art classes, and we got to put on plays with sets and screens and lights and costumes. We had an amazing school where I grew up, and I didn't appreciate it. I didn't couldn't wait to get out of that little town. Had a chip on my shoulder a mile wide. Don't ask me why. I have no clue. But it was probably not until my twenties that I realized how blessed I was, how fortunate I was, how spoiled I was to grow up in such a tight knit community with so many wonderful people. Wonderful, wonderful people, and some of the best people in my life were teachers who poured their heart and soul into me.
How are you?
I got to tell you. I don't know if I can call you.
Jim, Oh you can.
I don't know, because it just it feels wrong.
After I had those experiences with teachers, my experience is very same. It's very difficult, but we'll get over it.
Okay, all right, I'll try, but to me, you will forever and always either be mister Wells or coach Wells.
Yeah. Well, those are amazing titles and I've enjoyed them, but yeah we're past that. Jim is good.
Okay, I'll try. Okay, mister Wells, see with your family. It's a double whammy because your wife, mary Anne was my eighth grade teacher.
Right.
I had her for math and English in eighth grade, and then I had you the next year for social studies. So it's I can't say Mary Anne or Jim, it's mister missus Wells.
H That is hard, I know.
So I asked my sister Deanna, who's also my executive producer for my podcast, to reach out to you because we're doing this podcast about educators, administrators, teachers, the people that cook in the kitchen, the people that invest their heart and their time and their energy into helping children to learn. And while we were talking about it, Deanna said, man, remember mister Wells, Remember missus Wells. And we started remembering, and she said, you know what, we need to talk to them.
Well, nice, that's great, honor.
Well, how many years did you teach and your wife twenty eight? So between the two of you.
My gosh. Yeah, yeah, we just celebrated our sixtieth anniversary here this last August. So yeah, time goes by, And.
Do you still look into each other with google eyes like you did when we were in school? I don't think so different, better better better. The thing I remember about your wife was she always had a smile on her face.
We need to have a lot more miles in this world.
Even when she was really mad at us, really she would smile and she would say, I'm going to count three and you will sit down.
That's great.
So for our listeners who are listening to our podcast, and our podcast is called love Someone, And the whole focus of the reason I decided to do a podcast is because I want to inspire people to make the world a better.
Place, good, good for you, and wonderful goal.
And you and your family have done that for decades for our community where I grew up.
Yeah, well, it's it's a lifestyle and a passion and something that's just us. I guess we have enjoyed every mile.
Do you remember, Jim, the reason that you started teaching, Why you chose teaching as a professional.
Number One reason I couldn't face three more years of law school.
Wow, that's an honest admission.
And after my first year teaching, I knew I was in the right place.
Think about the number of lives that you and Mary Anne have.
Impacted, well, you know, and they impacted me hugely too.
But you didn't just teach. The thing that stands out in my mind when when I was in school was you and your wife didn't just teach math and English, and for me it was social studies. You taught me social studies and finance. I think I had you for finance, personal finance. You taught integrity, and you taught accountability.
Those are very important.
Like with the coaching, you were always insistent that even if you you know, couldn't play, if you were ineligible to play, you dressed down, you sat on the bench, you supported the team, you were a part of a team. And man, those are priceless.
Yeah, the relationships that you build are just lifelong. Really, I've got I got to say that ninety percent of my best friends or my former students. I have many professional associates and stuff and we're friends, but really my deepest friendship are former students and former athletes that were students. Also, of course, but and this is the thing that a lot of people don't realize that you take these kids into your life and they're more than just students. I don't know, I'll get emotionally here, but you become a father figures. Some kids don't have fathers, some kids don't have a family, and sometimes you can provide those needs. We served a lot of meals to former students, and they're just more than students. And I know teachers that elementary school teachers in their classroom, they have brought cereal and milk and cookies and things that kids need, and out of their own pocket are always providing for kids. And maybe that's as important as what we taught.
Now it's my turn to get emotional because I was thinking about some of the lessons that you and your wife taught when I was in school, and the one thing that came to my mind was Carrie Gift.
Oh wow, yeah, yeah, been a lot of Carrie Gifts and others that had other needs.
Carrie, he had a lot of special needs.
Yep.
And you made him team captain or.
Was manager manager.
You made him manager.
And he loved it better. And he was essential.
He was essential, and all of a sudden there was a new respect for Carrie that was infectious. You giving him that responsibility and letting him shine, because he really did shine. It really did change the dynamic of his life.
Kids that are picked on you need to help find and find their spot it can shine.
So if you had advice to give to somebody, a young person who is thinking of their future, trying to figure out what they want to do, where they want to go in life, what would be your words of wisdom? If they're thinking about maybe becoming a.
Teacher, you know, I think I would quote them Winston Churchill. He said that to what you get in life is based on what you give. What you get in terms of paying things like that or nothing. You what you give makes you who you are, and you'll find I think the most happiness in giving for them getting I think I would tell him that it's true.
Mister Wells. Thank you, Blessings to you and your wife and your boys. And next time I'm home, I can't wait to see you.
Okay, great love talking to you.
Thank you, Bye bye, hn bye bye. After retiring from teaching and coaching, Jim Wells and his wife Mary Anne continue to contribute countless hours to community programs and events. The two of them are a constant presence, the champion the people and the passions of read sport. We are all so fortunate to have had them in our corner. I have a nonprofit organization called Point Hope that I founded, and I can tell you that if it weren't for Missus Lyons in fourth grade encouraging us to pack up boxes of clothes and school supplies to send to orphans and Vietnam who had survived the Vietnam War, I would not have had the courage to start Point Hope. Missus Lyons was my fourth grade teacher. She didn't just teach reading and writing and math. She taught compassion. She taught us that we could make a difference in the world. My fifth grade teacher, mister Myers, my sixth grade, seventh grade teachers, my junior high teachers who had to put up with a whole lot of really raging hormones and braddy behavior on my part, shaped me, loved me, encouraged me, helped me to become the person that I am today. Good teachers encourage and they help, and they care deeply. They care about their students, They care about what's going on in their lives. When a child is sick or hurting, they care. So if you are a teacher, a principal, vice principal, across walk guard, a school bus driver, if you have coached a high school basketball team, football team, junior high volleyball team, a swim team. Maybe you're a drama teacher and you've done plays and given up your after schools for years, or you're a music teacher and you take the kids on trips to perform. Thank you, Thank you for going the extra mile. Thank you for using your gifts and talents and skills to make this world a better place, one student, heart at a time.
De M.