Barry Deetz

      I used the Wayback Machine to find an old web site I created for our 35th Reunion. This was built the old fashioned way with html code. I do not pretend it was as good as the sites we can build using templates today, but I am glad I found the content. There was quite a bit about our teachers which I am going to reproduce. Today is Biology teacher and Track coach, Barry Deetz. He was a huge man in size and personality. A dedicated teacher in the best sense of the word. Below are some of the comments I collected in 2012 when I asked people to post their remembrances of him.

Paul McCubbin:

Never had him as a teacher though he was hard to miss. Mr. Deetz was a Big man who taught science, coached track, and had a house full of daughters.

Cathleen Doyle:

A house full of daughters and their friends. What grand memories.

Tony Bazzini:

Still remember his class ...

Laurie Marcello:

He was very proud of himself when he learned the Big Mac commercial.. 2 all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun!

Jennifer Jaeger-Ramirez:

He was my teacher and I loved him. One day he came in and told us he had had a skin cancer mole removed from his face but don't worry he would be fine. He even taught us a little about it and showed us some cells. Then in my mind it seemed like only 2 months went by and he was gone ! It was actually a very traumatic thing for me at the time because he had convinced us he was gonna be fine. And 2 months he was gone ! So sorry for your loss, but please know he made a big impact in my life and I have thought of him often over the last 26 years . Myself and my family always wear sunscreen because I remembering him telling us to.

Sarah Deetz:

Jennifer, thank you SO MUCH for sharing this; it was 9 months from his diagnosis to his death, although he took medical leave from RHS almost immediately. We all thought he'd fight it and win, just as he had any and all adversity in his life. Glad to hear that you learned from him, and sunscreen is a part of your life (as it is mine); I'm sure that your skin is healthy and looks great! Thank you for remembering him so fondly.

John Parisi:

I had your dad in 10th grade biology in 1980. He was my favorite teacher in high school! I was never much of a student until his class. And he was the first to really convince me to not worry about the grades, and just enjoy the material. He really changed my attitude about school and that changed my life! I also used to see him on the floor at the Milrose games when I ran there. He was just a great guy who took an interest in me and I would have to say was the teacher that had the greatest impact on me!!

Sarah Deetz:

John, so glad that that you have such a fond and indelible memory of him; he certainly never told ME not to worry about the grades! He enjoyed officiating at Millrose and ALL the indoor meets so much; in fact, if you ever see the Back to the Track, Jack episode in the first season of the Cosby Show (1985), it was filmed at the Olympic Invitational in the Meadowlands and you can clearly see him at the pole vault pit! Got to meet all the "kids" and see the "race"; and the DVD let me show my kids their grandpa. The following year, he had to miss Millrose as it was the same day as his tumor surgery; since he recovered well, I went to MSG that night and brought a Get Well card with me in case anyone asked where he was. EVERYONE signed it, and it made him cry the next day when I gave it to him in the hospital. And I still have it!

Theodora Portelos:

I had your Dad for 10th grade biology as well in 1979. He made learning fun. Had such a great sense of humour. I remember referring to him as BIG BEAR! And he really cared about the kids in his class! We were very luck to have him touch our lives!

Stephen Goodman:

My lab drawings saved my biology class with him; also a film I'd constructed from super-8 footage I'd taken off of the Apollo 12, 14-17 missions on TV, combined with music gotten from WNEW-FM's 'night trips' programming.. :) He was a great fan of the space program!

Sarah Deetz:

He gave great bear hugs, too! He truly loved teaching and tried to make his classes fun and relevant. Stephen: he always appreciated anyone who really TRIED even when they didn't get the best grades, and gave extra credit whenever he could. He did love the space program; I clearly remember sitting on the foot of his bed watching the little TV on the rolling cart and seeing Neil Armstrong take "one giant leap for mankind", although I was only 4 at the time. Thanks so much for the kind words and memories! He would have been 84 next month....

Becky Deetz:

"You kids are like bananas: they come in a bunch. Born green, turn ripe, die rotten." He had a million of them.

April Schoenherr:

He was a funny teacher. I had him for biology. He always showed slides of his daughters - a proud father.