“Act like we met him….”
I was 16 when I met Danny in 1991. He was the English instructor for the NKU branch of Upward Bound.
I think a lot of the UB kids were like I was…just poor kids from “the holler” or even the inner city–we saw our parents struggle every day without good jobs, real careers, or a lot of money, mainly because of a lack of higher education. Somewhere we were lucky enough to get found by UB and our parents, while anxious to see us leave home, were hopeful for us. I remember my stepdad telling me— “They’re sending you up there to get a free education—don’t you mess it up now!” My mother was worried about what kind of people I’d meet, she was always on the lookout for “bad influences”–she wanted to see me finish school, something she hadn’t done, for reasons I’m sure most could guess. They both were reassured the first weekend I came back home and told them how excited I was about the program, but especially our English class, and its instructor, Danny Miller.
A bookworm since I was big enough to turn the pages, I was utterly thrilled when I was given the set of stories and plays we’d be reading that summer…it was all authors I hadn’t heard of yet…and Danny was the most enthusiastic teacher I think I’d ever had. He was so welcoming…it didn’t matter to him one bit where we’d come from (the projects, poor backwaters, broken families) it only mattered where we were going, and he aimed to help us get there. It was a new experience for most of us, and over the course of that summer, through that one class, our lives were changed.
In the years since, I along with many other UB kids have gone on to get our college degrees, and pursue successful careers. Many of us studied English at NKU. I know if it weren’t for Danny’s teaching, guidance and encouragement, we never would have gotten where we did.
I know for me personally, Danny was so influential in making me the person I am now—through UB, the English dept. at NKU and even on into my adult life. I asked him earlier this year to write a letter of recommendation for me, and I was just sure he’d be too busy to do it, but of course he happily said he’d love to, and many e-mails went back and forth between us. I am so glad I asked him to do that. Not for the letter, but for the last chance it gave me to talk with Danny, and have him shed some of that abundant light he had into my life again.
I recently found my evaluation from that 1991 class…Danny found so many unique things to write about me (handwrite, even!), and was so encouraging. And I am sure he did that for every student. He didn’t have to, of course–it’s not like he got paid more or anything. But he still did it. That was the kind of teacher, and person, that Danny was. He took the time. How many of us can say that? He never hurried—he could be so busy, but he always took the time for you, and he could always tell when you needed him to. You never had to ask.
A friend of mine wrote me a note this week, and in it was a quote about how we owe it to the person who has passed on to “act like we met them”—take what they taught us, be better people because of that and pass it on to the world—all of us who knew Danny, even briefly, owe this to him—go out in the world and give the goodness that he gave us. That way, he’ll never really be gone.