(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Men and women in their 60s are converging on Northwest Indiana over the next two days to honor their former teacher.
These folks were 4th and 5th graders in the mid-1960s at the now-demolished Beverly Shores School.
For Dan Foldenauer, who was in his early 20s then, it was his first teaching job.
This reunion was really planned because of him.
“It all began when I found a photograph of him standing in front of a car, with a crewcut, white shirt,” said Pat Piper, who was in one of Foldenauer’s first classes.
“I Googled ‘Foldenauer, Virginia’ because I knew he was still teaching. And suddenly I get this phone call: ‘Hi, it’s Mr. Foldenauer. But you can call me Dan now.’”
Foldenauer is 80 now.
“I had like 30 in a class,” he recalled. “Fourth grade on one side of the room. Fifth grade on the other side. And here I am, unexperienced teacher, working my tail off. But I was really excited about teaching.”
Pat Piper remembers the joy that Foldenauer brought to the Beverly Shores School.
“Dan Foldenauer would take us down to the beach. He’d say, ‘Well, we could do math, but let’s just go to the beach and look at the water and you can tell me what you see and what you learned.’
“I don’t think you can do that today.”
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