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Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams

Column November 11, 2007

A EULOGY FOR MY FAVORITE TEACHER

When Mrs. Ethel Thomas Browning died September 1 at age 91, a lot of her
former students shed a tear. I was one of them. She was the best teacher we
ever had.

First off, you may notice that I called her MRS. Browning.

Even though I am well into my senior years and Mrs. Browning and I have been
teaching colleagues on the same faculty, I have always called her Mrs. Browning
because of the great respect I have for her.

Mrs. Browning has always known that. The first year she and I taught on the
same faculty, a fellow teacher suggested that I call Mrs. Browning by her first
name_after all, we were all adults on the same faculty. Before I could even
answer, Mrs. Browning said softly, “He couldn’t do that. He respects me too
much.” And that was that.

I first met Mrs. Browning when I was a 12-year-old seventh grader and she was
my English teacher. Some people you meet in life just seem to have a special
glow about them that marks them as being above the rest. Mrs. Browning had
that glow. I noticed that glow the first day I saw her and I saw that glow in her the
rest of my life.

From that first day in her classroom I knew I had a special teacher, a gifted
teacher. Part of her gift was to make each of her students feel special. She
made me feel VERY special. That’s a wonderful feeling for a shy, insecure 12-
year-old child.

Although I was shy and quiet and had a bit of a stuttering problem, she gently
brought me out of my shell. She encouraged me to do previously unthinkable
things like enter a spelling bee, read aloud in class, and even have a part in the
class play.

Even after I left seventh grade, she continued her interest in me, She
encouraged me throughout high school and even in college. Three times she
wrote me at UF and each time she said she hoped I would become a teacher—
and I did.

Sometimes we don’t tell people how much they have meant to us until it is too
late. Fortunately, I took every opportunity to tell Mrs. Browning how much she

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