Mr. Ralph King was an English teacher at Midway High School from 1963 to 1996. He was one of the most respected and most beloved teachers to have ever graced the classrooms at MHS. I use the word ‘grace’ for a reason. Mr. King exhibited grace, as defined as “elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action,” in many ways. Mr. King was not graceful in motion necessarily, as his short little legs carried his squat little body down the hallways while all the students stood towering above him. He was graceful when he spoke; he was graceful when he stood in front of the chalk board; but most importantly, he was graceful when he worked one-on-one with his students.
Having been a teacher at Midway for 33 years, Mr. King taught my mother, my older sister and me; this is true for many other families that grew up in the area. He was a fixture of Midway High School for decades and was always one of the many great things about the school. It has been more than 15 years since I’ve seen Mr. King and I still find myself thinking about him often. Whether I am getting on the interstate in Kingston passing his old house or trying to determine if I structured my sentence correctly in an email, the gentle man would cross my mind. To say that Mr. King was a positive impact is an understatement.
I was a student of his towards the end of his teaching career. I admit that my classmates and I spent more time trying to trick him into letting us watch another movie (because he’d often dose off and we could slip out and go to the gym) than studying our books, but, we all respected him. I bet any teacher will tell you that it’s hard to get a classroom of 16-year-old know-it-alls to respect anyone, but that was never a question.
Mr. King loved his students and wanted all of us to succeed, whether we showed a desire to or not. It was his kindness and love of his students that would often lend him to provide us a little extra help when needed. That extra help would generally be in the form of a little nod or wink when questioned about an answer to a problem but sometimes his gestures of goodwill were more comical. Travis Jackson reminded me of something that Mr. King did on more than one occasion. When stumped by a multiple choice question, Mr. King would often tell us “if you look hard enough, you’ll SEE the answer”; communicating to us that the correct answer of course was C.
Sadly we recently learned of Mr. King’s passing. He died on March 16th, 2011 at the age of 85 in Florida where he had retired. His obituary read: Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Frances; daughter, Carol Buonaguro; son, Ralph (Tommy) King, Jr.; brother, Roy King; sister, Doris Jean Hammontree; 7 grandchildren & 3 great grandchildren.
We wanted to take this opportunity to share our memories of the legendary Mr. King in a collection of “Mr. King Memoirs”. What follows is writings from former students Aimee Tilley, Angie Townsend, Beth Gage, Kathy Branson and Sean Campbell. It is with honor that we all can say Mr. King was our teacher.
Mr. King was one of those teachers that actually made a difference in his students’ lives. At a very young age, long before I was an actual student of his, I knew his name. As a youngster, I would pour over my father’s Midway High School yearbooks reading comments from his class mates and teachers. Mr. King’s comments were always so supportive of my father, even though my father was not the “top of his class,” if you will. I kept this mental image of Mr. King growing up until I had him for a teacher myself. I was pleased to find that he was exactly the same person who wrote those comments in the older yearbooks belonging to my father. Mr. King did not have favorites. He saw his students as individual-thinking human beings who deserved to be listened to and heard, and did not categorize the intelligence levels of his class. As a result, we students learned much more than we might otherwise have learned. He simply loved English; loved teaching and loved seeing his students have that “AHA” moment in his classrooms.
Mr. King taught me the roots of words, how to breakdown a sentence, how to analyze a poem, even when these things did not mean anything to me. One of his and my biggest arguments in class would be the reasoning behind diagramming sentences. The conversations would go something like this, Me: “Mr. King, why do we have to diagram these sentences….again??” Mr. King: “Ms. Tilley, you will thank me one day when you know the different parts of speech and are able to carry on a conversation with anyone, anywhere”. I still didn’t understand why, but now, as an adult, it all comes together, my “AHA” moment.
Being an unruly teenager, I happened to be one of those students who probably tried his patience with my disruptions, but was also one to whom he saw more than just a troublemaker. Being impatient for the ending of a story or play, along with being a speed reader, I had the tendency to read ahead. I know that he would chastise me for this, but also that it made him proud that I was interested in the story enough to want to know “what would happen next.” On more than one occasion, I would get a reprimand followed by a wink.
My original goal for this post was to write how Mr. King instilled a love for writing and reading; but now that I think about it, that would be dishonest. I already had that in me long before I had him as a teacher. Instead, he taught me that everyone has the tools to learn and succeed. It is how you use those tools which set you apart from the rest. Mr. King never gave up on his students, and Midway High School was a better place because of his love for teaching and his students.
Aimee (Tilley) Moore – Class of 1992
When I first learned of Mr. King’s passing, I was truly saddened. However, throughout that day I caught myself smiling as I took a stroll down memory lane remembering my high schools days in Mr. King’s English class. Who could forget reading MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet in class, or poetry in iambic pentameter? How about diagramming those sentences that seemed to take an entire sheet of notebook paper! But worst of all, the dreaded final exam that looked like an entire book in print! Even through all of that, there was always a good measure of fun and laughter.
It’s strange how I remember some of these things; since I have neither written nor read anything in iambic pentameter since high school. As far as that goes, I never understood what purpose diagramming sentences had to do with life until I had children in middle school. My kids think their father and I are weird anyway, but we confirmed it for them when we were excited to find homework we could actually help them with!
I have come to the conclusion the reason these things are stored away is the result of a teacher who was passionate about teaching and dedicated to his students. To me and so many others, Mr. King is the epitome of what a teacher should be. He set the standard high and held his students to it, guiding and directing along the way. I have no idea how many lives Mr. King has touched over the years, but I know his legacy lives on through all of us. Mr. King, we will miss you; may you rest in peace.
Angie (Townsend) Isbill – Class of 1982
When I saw that Mr. King had passed, I felt total sadness. I had wondered more than a few times through the years just where and what he was up to? I would have to say that Mr. King was legendary. I knew of him when I was a young child through my older siblings. As a young child attending high school basketball games with my dad, I remember Mr. King being there. I didn’t realize that he was the “official bookkeeper”, a job he had for many years. He was a Midway fan and a student supporter. He was there for your educational needs but also if you needed a friend. He was tough in his English classes but when he was through with you, you had been taught. He was bound and determined that you were going to diagram those sentences.
I must say, he brought us a world that we might not have ever known. Those worlds were in books that he had us read, poems that we learned to write, and plays where you got to be someone else all together. The newest and biggest world was when he took a bunch of country bumpkins to see New York City and Washington DC. You find out real fast that there is a much different world out there than what you realized. The night we pulled into NYC and saw all the lights and night people, well let’s just say we went from the bus to the door of the hotel in a Tennessee minute. Still makes me smile when I think of that time with my classmates. Thank you Mr. King. I guess I’m thanking you for a trip that I would not make again, for being my teacher and my friend.
I miss your laugh; always liked it when you laughed because you thought we were funny. Not so much of the frown, when we were no longer funny. You always had a high standard for your students, I’m glad. I always heard that the professors at Roane State said they knew which kids came from Midway High School and had been taught by Ralph King. I bet it was because we could diagram those sentences.
I know Mr. King cared about his students. The day before graduation, a couple of our classmates found out that they didn’t have enough points to graduate. In the middle of the panic we felt because our buddies were not graduating with us, Mr. King calmly told them to go to his room and write him a 2 page report. When asked, “report on what”, he with his stern look said,” I don’t care, as long as it is 2 pages”. You’re a good man, Mr. King and you made a difference. Our buddies were right there in that graduating line. Job well done, now rest in peace. PS: I hope you’re not reading this because the punctuation rules are long gone from my head. : )
Beth (Gage) Johnson – Class of 1976
Mr. King’s first year at Midway was among several firsts for the school. In the fall of 1963 Paint Rock and Fairview 7th and 8th graders were moved to the high school and integration began in Roane County Schools. Mr. King was home room teacher for my 7th grade class and I was blessed to have him as a teacher each year and some years for more than one subject. I was a part of a group of giggly, talking girls his first year that he had to deal with. Even now I can see him looking up over his glasses with that look that meant “be quiet.” During that growing process he became not only one of the teachers who made the most impact on my life but a friend as well. Through his instruction, I developed a love for English and Literature that I don’t think I would have had it not been for him. In my college writing classes, I would think of Mr. King and be so grateful for him being tough and thorough.
Mr. King had many wise sayings that he passed on to his students and my children can repeat many of them today as I have used them and always given him credit. I smile now thinking of how he challenged so many young people over his career as a teacher and say a thank you that I was among them.
Kathy (Branson) Parks – Class of 1969
“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” — Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird
Bravery cannot be in short supply for an English teacher at a rural high school or, indeed, at any high school. Bravery is, without apology, handing out worksheets as densely packed with words as the U.S. Constitution and demanding that each student identify every word’s function, every part of speech, every pronoun and its person, every incorrect subject/predicate agreement. Bravery is teaching Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. Bravery is being courageous enough to insist on diagramming hundreds or even thousands of sentences long after the practice is out of fashion. Bravery is teaching Chaucer and requiring that students write their own stories in iambic pentameter. Bravery is insisting that understanding how a sentence works, how to use the correct verb tense, how to spell a word, how to read the great works, and how to communicate effectively really will pay off eventually — will be practical — later in life.
Bravery is daring to be an English teacher at all.
What I’m getting at here is that I think Mr. King was brave, even for an English teacher. I speak in the past tense, you see, because it has been a decade and a half since I last sat in his class room. I ran into him a few times at Roane State Community College where he had begun adjunct work, and I liked to imagine he was still up to his old tricks: a sort of repetitive, Mr. Miyagi/”Karate Kid” approach that seemed less than helpful at first until you realized that all these little rules that regulate our language had wormed their way permanently into your brain. I’ve been considering a diagrammed sentence as a tattoo.
Speaking of To Kill A Mockingbird, I read the book a little after high school having meant to for some time (it’s Mr. King’s favorite book, as I recall). I tend to find that people’s favorite books reveal a lot about them, and To Kill A Mockingbird was no exception about our esteemed Mr. King. It’s Harper Lee’s only novel, and it seems so genuine, so real, so human that it’s hard to believe anyone could write such a debut novel and never really write again. I’ve associated this legendary, deeply moving novel with Mr. King over the years, and while Mr. King could be one of the more demanding teachers I’ve ever had, I know that all the technical details we focused on all those years ago had our best interests at heart, something Mr. King certainly never lacked.
Sean Campbell – Class of 1996, Mr. King’s final class at MHS