From Laura

Pin It This would be about the time of year that I usually wind my way back to Amelia Earhart Elementary, bask in the smile of Susan the Secretary, chat up teachers in the halls as they've trickled in for end of summer preparations, and find myself at Mr. Z's classroom door. 

Turning that knob brought with it hours of soaking in through osmosis the excitement of a new school year. I would help with fairly mundane things, organizing, rearranging, filing and filling, but I was in the company of a former colleague whose passion for education outmatched my own, whose humor and conversation magically turned the hours to minutes.

I'm reeling at the thought that those hours will never come again.  Jason, your insight, writings, photographs, stories, your friendship... all are immeasurably treasured. You were an ordinary guy who packed three lifetimes of extraordinary undertakings into 41 years.

I'll miss you Mr Z.