Miss Black (later Mrs. Maffett) was my teacher in 7th grade at N.F. Jr. High. She put up with a lot of stuff from her students particularly one kid named Bobby Steele. Brian McKinstry was a promising student, straight A's, very bright and very articulate. He always tried to get us to tone down our antics in class. One day Bobby thought of a great prank to play on Miss Black. Brian was never part of our daily pranks, pencil shavings on the floor, chalk dust on the teachers chair. He was always on the up and up. This time Bobby talked him into going down two floors to the grass below the classroom window and lay as if he had fallen out the window.

Miss Black came in the classroom, the chuckling and talking abruptly ended. Miss Black looked at Brian's empty seat and asked, "Where is Brian?".

We all pointed out the window. She walked over looked down and screamed. She started running for the door of the classroom when Brian and all of us started laughing and yelling and said, "no, no, it was just a joke." She looked back down at Brian waving to her from two stories in the grass below and then slowly walked to her chair at her desk, sat down, put her hands over her face and sobbed. The tears were running down her cheeks. Brian died that same year, he was hit by a car chasing a ball near his home.

I will never forget that day. Brian with his black framed glasses waving back up to us on the second floor while our teacher cried.

Miss Black, forgive us, you truly made a difference in a lot of our lives.