A student becomes a colleague
Janice Ryder didn’t have Wally Hayes as a teacher, but she remembers as an eighth-grade cheerleader having him teach her the song, “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.”
In 1972, Ryder, now head of the English department at Westbrook High School, came to teach at the high school. There she learned from him, becoming a better teacher, better administrator and better person for knowing him, she said.
“I was so grateful for his wise and benevolent wind beneath my wings,” she said. “He was so genuine. So committed.”
Ryder said even when he found kids doing something wrong, Hayes had a way of not bringing them down but showing them clearly what he thought they should do.
“He really knows how to make kids see who they truly are,” she said.
Three generations remember a favorite teacher
Westbrook High School junior Alex Mitchell said of all the teachers he’s had, Wally Hayes is his favorite. He had him as a freshman but continued to visit him through his sophomore and junior years.
This year Mitchell said he went to Hayes’ homeroom every morning instead of his own. He said Hayes would tutor him in math every day, and even a couple of times before school, even though he wasn’t in his class anymore.
“He is one of those teachers-you think you’re not learning anything, just having a good class, but you are,” he said.
Mitchell’s mother, Bethany Murray-Mitchell, had Hayes as a teacher when she went to Westbrook High School. She said it made her sad to see Hayes leave after so long. She said he was a very good teacher and was impressed Hayes would help her son out even when he wasn’t a student of his anymore, particularly before school.
“Not many teachers would do that,” she said.
Mitchell’s grandfather, Peter Murray, said he didn’t have Hayes as a teacher but as an advisor. He said he’s known him personally for at least 25 years. Murray said he worked as a chef in the school’s kitchen and would make Hayes eggs benedict every now and then because he knew Hayes liked it. Murray said Hayes is a “real decent human being.”
Murray-Mitchell said she asked her son if it would be OK for her to go in with him and say goodbye to Hayes. He said it was, and then he suggested his grandfather come as well. The three of them went in and surprised Hayes with a card and a balloon the last day of classes before exams.
Murray said Hayes’ influence went way beyond the school subject matter. The fact that his grandson wanted all three generations to go in and surprise Hayes was a testament to that, he said.
“That’s the spirit he instills in kids,” Murray said.
A father and son remember Hayes
Larry Dahms was with Wally Hayes and the Bell Ringers in 1974 when they toured Europe for three weeks. He also had him for math in junior high and also high school. He said Hayes influenced him more than any other teacher he ever had.
“A one-and-a-two…from the beginning…non-stop 110 mph…” Dahms said Hayes would always say. “He was a great educator and advisor. He was humorous. The teachings of Wally Hayes went way beyond the classroom.”
Dahms said the European tour was something he’d never forget. He said they went to London, Paris, Nice, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Munich and Amsterdam among other places. He said he kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland, visited Stonehenge in England, lay on beaches in the French Riviera and received a personal blessing from Pope Paul VI in Italy.
“A trip of a lifetime,” he said. “Thanks again Wally for having the vision and dedication to turn this trip into reality.”
Dahms’ son, Eric, was also a bell ringer and was at Westbrook High in the fall of 2001. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Eric Dahms went to Hayes and told him they needed to do something.
The two got an old American flag Hayes that was too large for the school to hang on its flagpole that had sat for 20 years in Hayes’ attic. They hung the flag on the side of the school and, over the course of the next year, raised enough money to buy a flagpole and hang the flag in front of Westbrook High, where it flies today.
“On the day of the assembly a year later, my father graciously made the eight-hour journey to and from my college so that I could attend the flag-raising ceremony,” said Eric Dahms. “I was utterly stunned at the event Mr. Hayes had managed to assemble.”
“He is a man of intelligence, power, determination and focus, and he will not be remembered as just my Algebra II teacher,” Eric Dahms continued. “He was a close mentor that pushed me to achieve independent success and helped guide me through the toughest years of adolescence.”
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