Dec. 21 not only marked the last day before winter break, but also the day Delphi Community High School (DCHS) students and teachers extended their last goodbyes and wishes to 23-year veteran English teacher, Patricia Brettnacher. This truly inspiring and influential woman was a great role model and asset to the English department.
Mrs. Brettnacher graduated from Purdue University with highest distinction. She majored in English Education and minored in Creative Arts. After college she began freelance writing, helping her husband on the farm, and raising their family. It was only after her children had grown up and left the house that she went back to college, earned a teaching certificate, and then later, a master’s degree in English Education.
“I love people who are curious and interested. I like to put pieces of puzzles together–and I don’t mean jigsaw puzzles. One of the most satisfying things is being able to facilitate that to somebody in some way…I think that’s why I like teaching,” said Brettnacher.
DCHS staff members, Mrs. Tonsoni and Ms. Lawton, collected letters from past and present teachers and students written in Mrs. Brettnacher’s honor. These letters were written as a way to communicate to her just how much she was and is appreciated–to give her a tactile representation of how many lives she impacted during her years spent in the classroom. Former student of DCHS, Jenna Buehler, felt moved to write this poem in tribute to Mrs. Brettnacher:
A wise woman with a feathered bob whose
spectacles were always changing:
the red pair
purple
turquoise
black with a white stripe.
What did she see? I’m not sure.
I suppose she saw us
young, county crop of kids.
Some who spoke English,
Some who did not.
Then she taught us all the same,
with staccato Oos! and Ahs!
She taught us by teaching herself, again,
the words–the meaning–the rhythm.
The world became beautifully murky then,
and it gave us a kind of freedom — to
challenge right and wrong,
and make heroes of yesterday’s villains,
To parallel and juxtapose,
To see meaning as a prism.
Media specialist, Ms. Lawton, made a list of the top 10 things she has learned from Mrs. Brettnacher.
10) Think big. My experiences in collaborating with her on projects is to think of the big picture, the final outcome, and then devise the plan to get there.
9) Failure is not an option.
8) Have an open mind for new ideas, philosophies, and even your own writing. Read and reread it and revise, revise.
7) Love your fellow man and yourself. Do not stereotype others or underestimate yourself.
6) Be professional, but know when to have fun. Serendipity happens.
5) Go natural–your food, your environment. Less is more.
4) Commune with animals. Mrs. B. is a horse whisperer.
3) Find your inner peace and listen to your body.
2) Embrace our diverse world and cultures.
1) Know what you believe.
Though Mrs. Brettnacher has retired from Delphi High School, her lifestyle will be far from sedentary. She and her daughter are currently in the process of building a boarding facility for pets. The business’s name? DogWood. DogWood will provide daycare for dogs and cats, and offer grooming services. Mrs. Brettnacher “hope(s) to build it this winter and be in business by the summer.”
While trying to reflect upon her past 23 years of teaching and thank the teachers she’s worked with over the course of her time at DCHS, Mrs. Brettnacher kept in mind the Connecticut tragedy. The teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School put students first and compromised their own lives in the process. In a final farewell and thank you to her colleagues, she, in eloquent Mrs. Brettnacher fashion, reflected, “There are no better people to be around than teachers…We [teachers] embrace life and we run toward the bullets.”
