Late last week, the foundations of our little town shifted.

That shift was caused by the passing of one its pillars, one of its favorite daughters, Jo Ann Boepple.

Very few individuals have touched so many lives, in so many different ways — teacher, administrator and historian.

In a career that spanned decades, she taught and guided many generations of Eddies. Actually, her career never really ended, as her position with the Historical Society was just an extension of her career, another form of teaching.

Even the column she wrote the local newspaper, the Edwardsburg Argus. Reaching others was not just a job or a profession.

For a very few, it becomes a calling, every bit as fulfilling and demanding as medicine or the clergy.

Mrs. Boepple was just that. A devoted teacher, from behind a desk, be it either in a classroom or in an office.

I once wrote that nurses and teachers have some common values, one being a passion for compassion. All true teachers have a heart made of the purest gold. One does not earn much gold spending decades in one small school district. You do it for other more noble reasons.

Now that she has answered the page from the Great Schoolmaster, one she has so well earned, we say farewell.

I can see her now, in my mind’s eye, sitting in heaven’s orientation class, discussing the angelic curriculum with others, or maybe taking up the pen to be a scribe, so many possibilities.

While her golden heart beats no more, and no more breath she takes, someone as special never leaves, not really.

Her writings, her work with the museum will ensure her name will live on, but her true legacy is instilled into the hearts and minds of her students. For as long as one remains, so does she.

Fast forward to the early 1970s, when Tom Kerr worked with Chuck Gohn to teach amateur radio classes at the junior high. I received my novice class license, igniting in me a lifetime interest in radio and electronics.

Then as a senior in 1978, her daughter Jill played opposite me in the school’s production of South Pacific. She has a beauty and grace that amazes me. Luckily, all I had to do was sing.

Fast-forward 10 more years roughly and Mrs. Boepple was the head of the adult education program. As she handed my father his diploma, I sat back pondering all the connections our families have had.

Many more times our paths have crossed. Small world. Even smaller town.

I sense that some time in the future, there will be a building.

On behalf of myself and my family, I offer the deepest of condolences to the whole Boepple family.

Pax et fortis, peace and strength in this most difficult of times.

 

David Hough

Niles