Retired teacher not forgotten by former WMS student

By Edwin Farrar
Special to The Windham Eagle

I was an angry kid in the seventh grade at Windham Middle School whose mom was losing her long-time battle with MS.

Teacher Philip Moody is shown in a
photo from the 1998 Windham Middle
School yearbook. He taught science
at the school until his retirement in
1999 and still lives in Windham.
COURTESY PHOTO

She told me on one of our visits to the nursing home, she just wanted to stay alive long enough to see me graduate from high school. The only problem was I was about to get expelled had I gone on the path I was on much longer. I would have so many detentions that I literally had a planner to schedule them out.

I remember the last one before my visit with my mom was with Ms. Day. I was joking around and being disruptive and she gave me a detention. We spent the next 10 minutes of class trying to coordinate around my other detentions trying to figure out when I could squeeze her in.

"The best I can do for you Ms. Day is two weeks from this coming Tuesday," I said.

I remember going back to school that Monday after seeing my mom and hearing her wishes for me. I remember the extreme guilt I felt about where I was and the direction I was going, knowing my mother was fighting for her life to make it to see me graduate. I decided that very moment, to stop the BS and give my mom her one wish.

The problem was every teacher knew who I was and my reputation. Now trying to be sincere, they thought I was setting them up for the ultimate act to be expelled out of school in style.

The next year on the first day of school, every teacher would pause and lock eyes with me when reading my name for attendance. I realized the desk away from the rest of the class was there waiting in anticipation of my arrival.

One teacher who gave me a completely clean slate though was Mr. Philip Moody. I did my work, was respectful, and in turn, he gave me a foothold to turn my reputation and my life around. I remember some of the kids who had high GPAs trying to butter up Mr. Moody for some extra credit as they got a B and not an A on a test. I remember him telling them they should study more, and that he was available after school if they needed more help. He treated all of us the same, no favorites, no bad kids, to him we were all kids.

I went into high school taking AP courses, playing sports, and was captain of the varsity soccer team, a real turnaround. In my senior year, I applied to a university that had a program that at that time was only one of a few colleges to even offer it. I decided to take the chance and apply for an "early decision" for this program.

Just getting into the program via regular admission was a huge deal. I would be competing with kids from Maryland all the way to Maine and into Canada. My SAT scores were not "great," not even "good." I did write one heck of an essay talking about having to care for my mother when I was 5, and how I nearly threw it all away in junior high except for one teacher who gave me a chance to turn things around.

I sent off my application packet assuming I would be lucky and happy to just get accepted in the normal fashion, but hopeful I would be one of the select few to get in via "early decision."

I was interviewed and they asked me a lot about my essay, again I spoke of my mom and the impact it had on me and of course Mr. Moody who I know, if it was not for him, I would not even be sitting in that room that day.

A month later I received a letter from the university saying I was accepted into the program, accepted via "early decision." I remember running to my mom with the letter waving it in my hand when we went to visit her in the nursing home for Christmas. She cried and hugged me and it was truly a special moment.

Less than a month later, two weeks prior to my birthday, my mom lost her nearly two decades-long battle with MS.

I still remember the soil erosion science fair project I did for Mr. Moody. I still remember some of the science he went over in class. What I remember most was the impact giving someone a clean slate can have and the impact of giving someone a foothold so they can pivot and take their life back can have. I have carried this valuable lesson with me my entire life and tried to apply it in coaching kids, volunteering in my kid's classroom, and mentoring people in a profession that most do not know even exists.

On my next birthday, I will be the age my mom was when she lost her battle with her horrible illness. I have learned that in this lifetime we are given, we can live many lives, some good, some bad. Be thankful for the people who do not shove us or try to drag us in the moments of change but to be thankful for the ones who give us the foothold to make the pivot needed to make the change ourselves.

One of the most prominent lessons Mr. Moody gave us, which has always stuck with me, seems very fitting.

"In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant; it is said to be conserved over time. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another."

Thank you, Mr. Moody, for giving a kid with a giant chip on his shoulder the environment to be able to turn things around. Thank you for giving my mother the confidence that her youngest child was going to be ok, so she could leave a body that was causing her so much pain and was failing her. I will do my best to continue to transform and/or transfer the energy you gave me.

If you see Mr. Moody at Corsetti's buying milk and a newspaper, at Windham Hill church, or some other location in our wonderful town, say hello to a great man and teacher. <