MiddleView

Sunday morning, as the sound of Taps filled the air, tears came to my eyes as I watched students lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.  Little did I know that about that same time on the west coast, cancer claimed the life of a friend and colleague.

In the town of Ashland, Oregon, Dave Kitchell’s status as a teacher and coach was legendary.  In 1985 we worked together as teachers to help transform Ashland Junior High School into Ashland Middle School.  While I had met Dave prior to that time, I really only knew him through his reputation as an elementary teacher in another building; and frankly, I thought the reputation was exaggerated – no one could be that good.  I was wrong; Dave was everything I’d heard he was – an outstanding teacher who was enthusiastic, caring, charismatic, and who always put the best interests of his students as a top priority.  Because of this, he was able to build those special long-lasting transformational relationships with students.  When I left to become an administrator in another district, I hired his wife as a PE teacher and so the relationship continued.    

Dave was one of the most courageous people I knew.  Battling cancer since 2002, he did not let it slow him down and did all within his power to live his life the way he wanted to live it – enthusiastically, with passion, and with an amazing strength of character.  Every time I saw him, he wanted to talk more about how I was doing rather than how he was doing. 

As the high school assistant football coach for more than 20 years, he was not only the defensive coordinator, but the inspirational leader of the team – a role he continued to the very end.  On Friday night, the team was in the playoffs; Dave was bed-ridden and unable to attend the game.  Never-the-less, he helped devise the game plan, gave a pre-game inspirational speech to the players over the phone, watched the game on-line via a live video feed, and even called a play using text messaging.  The team won – 14 -7!

One of my favorite leadership books is A Leader’s Legacy by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.  In it they write:

Leadership is about taking people to places they’ve never been before, and we can’t go to those places without courage.  Leadership is courage in action.  Courage gives us the energy to move forward.  Courage gives us the confidence to believe we can make it.  Courage gives us the strength to sustain ourselves in the darkest hours.  Courage enables us to leave a legacy that declares, “I was here and I made a difference.”

When we move on, people do not remember us for what we do for ourselves.  They remember us for what we do for them.  They are the inheritors of our work.  One of the great joys and grave responsibilities of leaders is making sure that those in their care live lives not only of success but also of significance.

Dave Kitchell understood this call to leadership and modeled it in all aspects of his life.  He has left a tremendous legacy; the way he lived his life and his courage in the face of adversity truly made a difference – in the lives of his wife Tricia, son Brian, daughter McKenzie, and in the lives of the countless students, friends, and colleagues that he came in contact with.  He will be missed but his legacy will live on.