Each one of us has a teacher who changed our lives, who engaged us with their enthusiasm, their knowledge, and their creativity. They made time to stop and make learning fun. They gave of themselves 100 percent because they loved what they were doing, and they inspired their students with their passion for their subjects.

Boothbay Region Elementary School Principal Mark Tess remembers such a teacher.

“His name was Doug Raubach and he taught history. He was humorous. We made eight-millimeter movies in his class, which was was cutting edge technology back then. On Fridays, he gave us trivia questions. He was a good human being who made learning come alive,” Tess said.

But while an appreciation for what Raubach taught him still looms large inside Tess's memory, there is no way to know how he is remembered in the place where he worked. What happens to teachers who retire after dedicating themselves to teaching generations of pupils? After they pack up their desks and leave the building, what is their legacy?  

Tess has come up with a way to make sure their names will not be forgotten. In fact, every time people look up at the walls of the BRES gym, there their names will be. Tess calls his project the “Retired Teachers Wall of Fame.” A work in progress, the “Wall” will have thirty-something names on banners displayed in the gym, to begin with. Since Tess is only going back about 30 or 40 years, he realizes there may be more names to come from former students or fellow teachers who remember other colleagues who taught prior to that time. He welcomes those names. He said that the wall of names will expand as teachers retire, and their names will be added to the wall. 

With help from retired teacher John Deetjen, Tess compiled a list of retirees’ names, and he enlisted BRES kindergarten teacher Lucy-Ann Spaulding’s sewing skills to create dark blue banners with teachers’ names stitched onto them in bright white letters that can easily be seen from their position high on the gymnasium wall.

Why does Tess care so much? He said the wall is his way of honoring the teachers’ commitment to their work and to their students. “I have nothing but positive things to say about retired teachers who spent most of their lives here at BRES. They gave so much. They retired and they walked out of the door when they were finished, and that was it. They deserve more than that.”