Mark Scully wouldn't give up on his students

To the editor:

When I read of Teacher Appreciation Week in May, I decided I should write about my best teacher, Mark Scully.

In 1928, we moved to a Missouri farm when I was in the eighth grade. We went to a one-room school with a pot-bellied stove. I was the only one in the eighth grade. Scully wasn't long out of high school and would not let me quit school. He spent extra time to help me. When I graduated, he gave me a Bible.

Once, when driving by our home, he stopped and found me reading a romance magazine an aunt had left. He wanted me to read better books, so he brought good magazines and a book, "Michael O'Halloran," which was later made into a great movie.

There was no way for me to go six miles to high school in town. Scully found homes for me to live in and work for my room and board. He even talked to the principal so I could do some errands to pay for my tuition.

Scully became the president of the college where he had graduated. He was the first to do so. I had the great joy of attending a 90th birthday party the college had for him in Cape Girardeau.

I still have two letters of encouragement he sent to me in 1929 that helped me continue.

FAYE GRACE

Springfield, Ohio