The Eccentric Substitute Teacher of My Middle School Years

 

Thomas Engleman (1945-2021)

I haven't done a tribute page to an admired individual in my life for a while, but today warrants one.  In doing my weekly obituary searches, I came across one for a man who I really thought highly of years ago. This guy was at one time a substitute teacher during the time I was in 7th and 8th grades at Romney Junior High School in Romney, WV, and he was truly one in a million.  So I wanted to just remember him here as my own tribute to his wonderful legacy.

Tom Engleman was not your typical substitute teacher - when I was in middle school back in the mid-1980s, he was a towering figure of over 6 feet, and he wore a characteristic long ponytail that made him stick out in a crowd.  When I first met him, I was a bit intimidated by him too, but I soon found out there was no warrant for such concern - Mr. Engleman was a true educator who had a heart of gold, and he took his teaching vocation seriously.  Middle school was not the best time in my life, to be honest - I was a poor kid with a single mother, and often I was the target of ridicule and harassment in school by both the "cool kids" and the "freaks" because I dressed differently (I have never worn jeans or tennis shoes since I was a young kid, and always dressed conservatively), listened to different music (I had started collecting vintage big band records just a couple of years earlier, and had little to do with the music that was popular at the time), and I had a high-pitched squeaky voice then.  I was looked at as a "geek" and an outcast, despite the fact I actually did do rather well in my classes.  As Mr. Engleman also stood out, he took an interest in me, and one day when he was subbing for our regular English teacher, he noticed me drawing, and came over and started a conversation about it - he later paid me fifty cents for two of those pictures, and I found out he had sent one to a radio host I listened to then, Henry Boggan.  Mr. Engleman was interested in my fascination with big band records, and he actually later pulled a few strings with the music teacher, Mr. Foster, for me to take saxophone lessons.  That was how invested he was in the lives of his students, and I am sure others would also have fond memories of his teaching them too.  That explains the type of man Mr. Engleman was, and now let me talk a little about some facts of his life I pulled from his obituary in the local  paper.

Tom Engleman was originally born in Miami, FL, in 1945, and I remember him telling me that he was part Seminole Indian and part German - the Seminole part explained the pony tail.  Upon his graduation from high school, he attended the Virginia Military Academy, and I was amused at how he handled the extracurricular activities requirement - he became a male cheerleader! For those of us who knew him, that comes really as no surprise, as Mr. Engleman was his own man and was in many aspects the quintessential eccentric, which could explain why another eccentric like myself clicked with him.  He then worked with a non-profit service organization called VISTA (Volunteers in Service for America) which is how he eventually ended up in West Virginia, where he would meet his wife and settle.  I always was curious about that honestly - how did a part-Seminole guy from Florida end up being a substitute teacher in a small West Virginia town?  Thankfully, his well-written obituary (which is actually a very touching tribute to his legacy) filled in those gaps for me.  He ended up making teaching his primary career then, and I am not sure how many years he taught in the Hampshire County School system, but he must have been there for some time before I first met him in my English class at RJHS in 1983.  In time, he later transitioned from substitute teacher to being a full-time science instructor at the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, which is also in Romney.  Another personal note about his teaching tenure when I was in 8th grade had to do with a stupid controversy that erupted among some jerks in the county then who had issues with his appearance - some of the jerks, ironically, were parents of the kids in school that gave me and others a rough time.  They didn't like the fact that Mr. Engleman wore a pony tail, and they made (almost anyway) a Federal case out of it.  Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and Mr. Engleman remained a teacher for some time afterward.  I remember giving him a lot of support, and Mom, knowing how highly I felt about him, actually was stirred from her own apathy and lack of involvement to rally behind him as well.  To this day, I am betting that those jerks who gave him a rough time are probably eating some proverbial crow, and if not, they should be.  Anyway, this gives you an idea of who Mr. Engleman was. 

I was able to have the privilege of talking with Mr. Engleman several years back, around 1997 or so.  He was still the same good-hearted soul he always was, and it was a nice conversation.  A couple of weeks later, I received a large envelope in the mail from him, and in it was that picture of a jazz band he bought from me years ago with a note telling me that it was the best fifty cents he ever invested.  That was the type of man he was though - a goofy pencil drawing of one-dimensional orchestra figures with weird-shaped instruments was seen as something significant by him, as he never took the small things for granted.  I still have both that picture and his note, and it is something I will always fondly treasure. 

It was a huge shock to hear that Mr. Engleman had passed away, as it would have been nice to chat with him again.  Ironically too it was only a couple of days before his 76th birthday.  However, I know that he was a man of quiet yet strong faith (he actually told me he was a Christian when I talked to him back in 1997, and he talked a lot about how blessed he was from God) and that his eternal reward will be nice due to the fact that as a mentor and teacher, he served those he was charged with, possessed with a humility and compassion that only someone who sees what they are doing as a vocation would.  He will be greatly missed not only by myself, but I am sure by many who had the privilege of his teaching.  May God be with his widow Jean and his daughter Amelia, and rest eternal, Mr. Engleman.