John Mink

I attended Bergstrasse Elementary School in Ephrata Twp., Lancaster Co., PA when I was in the 7th and 8th grades. My teacher was a man by the name of John Mink, who was also the principal of the school.

Mr. Mink had a reputation among students as a strict disciplinarian. He did have a hot temper. I remember one time when one of the students didn't know the answer to a question, he pulled his head back by the hair, and raised his book up. I thought he was going to hit him in the face, but he must have thought better of it at the last minute. He was very adept at throwing chalk at students. He once hit my friend Cyrus with a piece of chalk when Cyrus was acting up in class as was his wont.

The first and only time I got into a fight in grade school was when I was in the 8th grade. I have no idea what started it, but during the noon recess, we were on the playground and one of my classmates, David and I got into a fight. Soon all the students had gathered around in a circle and were egging us on. Well no self-respecting eighth grade boy could stop under those conditions. About that time Mr. Mink drove into the school yard, coming back from lunch. That ended the whole thing rather quickly. He never did punish either one of us. I guess he remembered what being a thirteen-year-old boy was like.

I only got in trouble once with Mr. Mink. The incident was over a paper-back Atlas that my dad had bought me. I was so proud of that atlas and I left it on my the top of my desk. It had a bad rip in the cover when Daddy bought it. I suppose he got it at a good price because of that tear. Mr. Mink thought I had ripped it and he clipped a note to it telling me that I should be more careful with books. His note offended me since I was not responsible for the tear. I wrote below his note, something to the effect that this was my personal property. He never said anything, but I was terrified for a long time that he might get back at me for the sarcasm of my response.

Mr. Mink was a very capable teacher. One of the things he did that students really loved, was to have a story hour every Friday morning. He would recite stories from the classics and from his personal reading. Some of the titles that I remember were, "The Lady of the Lake," "Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)," and "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse." He also would read complete Zane Grey novels on a continuing basis. I should say that he had no idea how to pronounce Jean Valjean. He pronounced it Jeen Valjeen. I guess he had never heard anyone speak French.

He did get me ready for high school. As rural students, we had to take a special test to get into Ephrata High School. It was commonly called the county test. I don't know if he was right about it, but he told me I had the highest score in the county that year. I was always rather adept at taking standardized tests. However, his students generally did very well in that test. The large majority of students at that school were Old Order Mennonites. They didn't go on to high school. I don't recall if they even took the test.

It is my understanding that he chose not to participate in the Public School Employees Retirement System, nor the Social Security Program because he had quite a bit of money. Rumor has it that late in life, he lost all his money and died practically penniless. That is sad, because he touched the lives of a lot of students and in spite of his brusqueness, he was an excellent teacher. Mr. Mink, I salute you and dedicate this little vignette to your memory.