Bert Leach draft by Blaine Bierley

Certainly, and thank you for an excellent piece on Mr. Leach, Blaine. Mr. Plymale and Mr. and Mrs. Fout will be forever indebted for your remembrances of Mr. Leach. It is too bad that recently deceased Doc Yeagle cannot read this.






Sam







From: Blaine Bierley

Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 06:27

To: Sam Kegley

Subject: PLEASE POST THIS DRAFT ON YOUR BLOG FOR COMMENTS





HERE'S MY ROUGH DRAFT--I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY COMMENTS.





“Remembering Bert Leach”





If there ever was an institution at Portsmouth High School it was Bert Leach. When I got there as a freshman in the fall of 1951, Mr. Leach had already been teaching at PHS for 34 years.

To say that he was a quirky fellow would be an understatement to say the least. I was in his freshman Business Training class during the second semester of the ‘51-’52 school year. He had been described as a master teacher, a teacher who preferred boys over girls, a gifted artist, an odd ball, and (by many), “The Smartest Man in Portsmouth.”





Bert Leach was born on September 13, 1887, on a farm near Bailey, Michigan. His education prepared him to teach commercial and business subjects. He attended Western State Teachers College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Muskegon Commercial College in Muskegon, Michigan. Later, he took summer classes at both Ohio University and Miami University in Ohio.





He came to Portsmouth High School in the fall of 1917 and retired in June of 1958 with 41 years of service, during which, he estimated, he taught over 8,000 students. During his tenure at PHS he proved his versatility by teaching a wide variety of subjects including English, mathematics, general business, and shorthand. Many of Mr. Leach’s former students attested that they forgot the subject matter he taught, but said that they always would remember his high spirits, originality, and puckish humor.





Most Portsmouth residents could point out Bert Leach’s home, a ramshackled two-story house on the corner of Second and Offner Streets--1426 Second Street, to be specific.





He was a lover of nature and the outdoors. He frequently took weekend trips to the woods around Kinnikonick, Kentucky, which he called “his stomping grounds.” He was also a gifted artist. He was president of the Portsmouth Camera Club and had his photographs published in national magazines. He also painted as a hobby. His artwork hung on the walls of the old PHS building for many years. He was a founder of the Portsmouth Art League.





Mr. Leach was also a published poet. In 1953 his book of verse, Saith the Preacher, was published by Pagent Press in New York. I still have my autographed copy which I purchased at Marting’s book department. In his book he used a variety of poetic forms--quatrains, sonnets, triplets, and ballades.





In his early years at PHS, Bert Leach was involved in dramatics. He wrote and directed many plays for the Sock and Buskin dramatic club. He was advisor of the art club, the Boy Scouts, and the Jolly Rogers--an all-boys’ club. He was remembered for the Sesquicentennial pagent he wrote for the Northwest Territory celebration in Portsmouth in 1938--just about the time many of the Class of 1955 were being born.





Sometime after he retired from teaching in 1958, Mr. Leach moved to the Cincinnati area. He passed away at the ripe old age of 91 at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati on October 14, 1978.





If you ever had him as a teacher, I suspect that you will never forget him.



Blaine Bierley {PHS ‘55)



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