Remembering a fine teacher,

HI Folks,
My brother sent the news of Lon Davidson's passing this morning via text and I have to admit, I am truly saddened by Lon's passing. My brother hit the nail on the head when he mentioned in his post that Lon "was the coolest". Indeed, he was. I can recall we, (the kids in the classroom) all loved to see him walk in to the classroom. He was always dressed in starched, button-down collar shirts, often blue in color, sharply creased khaki "chinos" and penny loafers with leather heals that clicked along with each step he took. And the way he walked had "cool" written all over it.
His laugh was infectious and it seemed he (and we) laughed a lot in class. There was the time Mark Dehn had to recite "The Charge of the Light Brigade", a difficult task at best. Mark tried with all his might but for some reason "Brigade" always came out "Brigrade". I recall Lon holding it back as long as he could then burst out laughing. The best part, he was not laughing at Mark and Mark and the rest of us knew that. Not at all. He was laughing because he absolutely loved the heroic effort by Mark to stop saying "Brigrade". When Mark was finished he walked over to Mark, put his hands on his shoulders and thanked him for his work while making sure we all understood that this was a tough assignment and, like Mark, we all needed to give it our very best shot. The "teaching moment" was born.
In another instance, he was literally bent over laughing behind the curtains of the stage at Morgan JH as I completely forgot my lines in a play we were doing for the entire school. I thought he would pass out as he dropped the cue card and held on to a nearby post. The play went on. My acting career came to a rather ignominious ending.
I recollect when Lon made the entire class recite "The Jabberwocky". There was not a kid in the class who did not almost fall out of their chair laughing as each and every one of us just hammered the recitation.
I recall Lon modeled for Seattle First National Bank, if I am getting that right. He was on a billboard that was standing to the right of I-5, somewhere between Northgate and downtown. I remember thinking that was about the coolest thing ever. And he had a houseboat on Lake Union. And he let some of us call him "Lon" when not at school. So cool!
Although I remember the "cool" part of Lon Davidson, that was not the best part. He was an excellent teacher who engaged each and every one of his students in the act of learning. He seemed to love teaching and made going to English class an absolute joy.
Lon, you will be missed. You did what all great teachers do. You left an indelible impression and, for what it is worth you left me with some very powerful memories.
Thank you.
Rest in peace.
M.I.T.