Dick Burkette & Bert Leach
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Portsmouth Times-August 30, 1958
RETIRED TEACHER BERT LEACH FINDS MUCH TO PURSUE
By Dick Burdette
“I’m accustomed to being busy. What will I do if I am not on
the job?”
In an age when knowing how to enjoy leisure time is a lost
art, this question is voiced frequently by persons approaching retirement.
Not so, however, with Bert Leach, 1426 Second St., who last
May put the finishing touches on his 41st and final year of teaching
at Portsmouth High School and in the teaching profession.
In fact, the prospect of devoting more time to his many
hobbies comes as a welcome relief after answering the school bell’s beckoning
chime every autumn here since the close of World War I.
With no classes to conduct, test papers to grade, or lesson
plans to prepare, it won’t be a matter of what to do for the talented educator,
but rather a question of what to do first.
An artist and writer of short stories and poems, Mr. Leach
supplements his creative efforts with such interesting hobbies as photography,
nature study, and reading history and fiction to more than fill the gap created
in his busy schedule by the termination of his teaching duties.
That he has bypassed the workingman’s dream of reclining in
an easy chair and letting the world go by is no surprise, however, considering
his active background.
A native of Bailey, Michigan, Mr. Leach completed 10 years
of high school and business college teaching in his home state before coming to
Portsmouth nearly half a century ago.
Leaving the profession twice during that time—once to work
briefly in a factory and later in a Civil Service office in Washington, D. C.,
as a stenographer and typist—he came to Portsmouth in 1917 where he resumed the
“three R” profession and began an uninterrupted 41-year career at PHS.
In addition to teaching English, mathematics and business
education courses, he took part in a number of extra-curricular activities at
the school including dramatics, intramural programs and various class projects.
A drama enthusiast throughout his career, he wrote and
directed a number of all-male comedy productions at the school. Among his eager
students of the theater was a promising “chorus girl” who later made a name in
the world as a major league baseball catcher, Del Rice, now a member of the
world champion Milwaukee Braves.
Although successful as a writer of comedy, Mr. Leach is more
noted for his more serious works, including the script written for the pageant
for the Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial celebration here in 1938, and a
book of 47 poems entitled “Saith the Preacher,” published in 1953.
A bachelor, Mr. Leach shares his home with a pet housecat,
“Benjamin Ezra.”
When questioned concerning the possibility of special
projects in the future, the untiring retiree said: “Just say I’ll be doing a
little battering and splattering,” referring to his typewriter and easel where
he paints with oils.
After 41 consecutive years of answering their opening call,
it would be understandable if the first chimes of school bells Wednesday find
the veteran walking briskly toward the school.
Chances are, however, that he won’t even hear them ring—he
may be too busy.
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