A teacher`s most important lessons

What do you do about a letter that is long overdue? Decades overdue. The answer is, sit down and write it.

I met Nan Webber in the fall of 1964, when she returned to Gloucester High School to teach English. She strode into our business English class that first day of school and looked out over a sea of faces.

Before taking attendance or giving the usual boring overview of what lay ahead, she asked one question. Did anyone in the class know who wrote the play "Pygmalion"? Having spent most of my life up until then buried in the escapism of books, I answered, George Bernard Shaw.

I don`t remember exactly what she replied, it was simply the look. A wordless exchange between kindred spirits. Nan became at that moment the thing that every human needs. The ability to connect with another. To be understood. It would get me through the next two years and on to another life.

Nan immersed us in the world of Sophocles and Aeschylus, the passions of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, Medea, Oedipus and my favorite, Antigone, who defied the king`s edict. I still have my dog-eared copy of Edith Hamilton`s "Mythology." And a copy of Allen Ginsberg`s "Howl."

A new world had been opened up for all of us and a personal one for me. Nan began reading my short stories and poetry, something I had done alone in my room since third grade.

But now there was a difference. Nan thought I could write. And she didn`t agree with those who had tracked me into business education thinking that college was out of the question due to family circumstances. She planted in me the seeds of hope and belief in those two years, and that was probably her greatest gift of all.

I left Gloucester shortly after graduation and didn`t see Nan again for nearly 37 years. But Nan`s belief that kids like me deserved a chance didn`t stop with me. She continued to make a difference for so many others.

Nan had been in my thoughts frequently over those years, and finally, eight months ago, the long overdue letter was sent. A letter expressing what she had meant to me, and how none of it had been forgotten. A short time later a letter came back. Then an excited phone call and a date set to meet.

We did a lot of catching up on that first day and in many get-togethers since. My husband and I have had the pleasure of attending performances at Theatre in the Pines in Rockport. Nan is the founder and artistic director.

Nan`s former students, or anyone interested in having a mesmerizing listening experience, can find the CD at Gloucester Music, Sawyer Free Library, Toad Hall Bookstore in Rockport and the Rockport Chamber of Commerce.

Life at times is an unexpected journey. I did graduate from college, and I did begin to write seriously.

Nan Webber took a chance on me decades ago. I took a chance decades later that she would remember what we had meant to each other. She did.

Claire Alemian, a resident of Hanover, is the former Claire Tebo of Gloucester. Her work has appeared in various literary journals and has received several awards. She is currently working on a novel.