Vivit Lingua Latina

Miss Ranck at the time she was my teacher

I don't know whether this person looks frightening to you, but she made me so nervous I nearly quit Latin.  Since I met my wife in a collegiate Latin class and have taught the language for nearly three decades, I am glad I did not, but I was certainly tempted after the first day in Miss Alice Ranck's Latin II class at New Albany High School.

When I was a freshman, which in our school district meant the last grade of junior high, I signed up to take German for the highly academic reason that this was the language my friends were taking.  Because the class was filled, the assistant principal called my parents and said he wanted to enroll me in Latin, for, in his words, he wanted me "to experience Alice Ranck."  It would mean walking across the athletic fields to the high school each day, since Latin was not offered at Hazelwood Junior High, but he assured us the effort would be worth it.

As it turned out, my Latin I teacher was Joyce Woller, a very nice lady, and I enjoyed the language enough to continue it the following year as a sophomore at the high school.  Nothing could have prepared me for that first day.  Oh, Miss Woller had done a fine job of grounding us in the basics of Latin grammar, but what neither she nor anyone else could have prepared us to handle was the force of nature that was Miss Ranck.  She talked so fast!  It was like taking a sip from a fire hose!  I thought I would never be able to keep up, and when I told my parents, they asked if I thought I should drop the class.  I decided to stay with it, and my life has never been the same.

Miss Ranck had a white bumpersticker on her chalkboard from the American Classical League that read in purple letters, Vivit Lingua Latina, and indeed the Latin language continued to live through her instruction.  There was, of course, the grammatical instruction, which, after decades of my own teaching, I can assure you was as sound as could be.  Much of my own instruction, from style to curriculum arrangement, stems from her.  There was also the historical and the mythological material, and again I find phrases about Caesar and Cicero echoing from her classroom in my own.

Then there was the fun.  We had an annual Roman banquet, complete with Roman dress and high school students reclining on their elbows in the school gym to eat Roman food.  There was Latin Club, with its "pound party" fundraisers in which students brought in a pound of food for auction.  And there was certamen.  This is an academic competition that sees students playing in teams to answer questions about the language, history, and culture of Greco-Roman antiquity.  Miss Ranck took us to play certamen (pronounced care-TAH-mun) in far off Muncie and Terre Haute, and my mom often drove, following her little, blue Volkswagen Rabbit in the wee, dark hours of a Hoosier Saturday morning.

To be fair, this is all a nice description of a good teacher, perhaps even one above average, but it does not explain why this woman from Fountain City, Indiana, should have become a legend.  It does not give a hint why she was named 1982-1983 Secondary Teacher of the Year by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.  It does not explain why she was the 1985 Teacher of the Year for the New Albany-Floyd County Community School Corporation and a candidate for Indiana Teacher of the Year.  It does not give even the slightest clue why hundreds of her former students have joined a Facebook group in her honor, have traveled over the years to visit her, and have shared with her weddings, births, and graduations that they have celebrated.  Perhaps those students took to heart the wisdom of Miss Ranck's favorite Roman author Cicero, who in his essay on friendship, wrote, "Qui esset tantus fructus in prosperis rebus, nisi haberes qui illis aeque ac tu ipse gauderet?" (De Amicitia, 22)  "How great would be the enjoyment in good times if you did not have someone who would rejoice in them as much as you?"

Miss Ranck at her induction into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame

Here at last we come to the heart of what made Miss Ranck a beloved figure in the lives of her students.  It is simply that, heart.  When she was inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2008, she said in her acceptance remarks, "It is our responsibility as educators to provide a sound education based on ethical principles.  Innate within every human being is first the desire to be noticed and to be loved, then comes the need to be taught to learn how to learn.  It is the role of the teacher to notice and yes, to love the student so much that he is ready to learn, and in turn develop all of his potential.  What better way for a teen-ager to learn to live honorably and well than to read from the literary masterpieces of Cicero."

Miss Ranck noticed her students.  Whether they were in her Latin class or not, all the children at New Albany High School were her students, and she greeted them warmly each day.  Those who had the good fortune to be her students were blessed by her demanding love, a love that would not tolerate anything less than a student's best.  And when in the course of human nature a student came ill prepared to class, that student heard the familiar refrain, "Preparation will cure what ails you!"

She inspired at least three of her students to become Latin teachers, and all of us have had long careers.  Drawing from my own experience, let's do a little math.  From middle school to high school to undergraduate levels of Latin and Classics, I estimate that I have taught around three thousand students.  During that time I have supervised eleven student teachers, nine of whom went on to teach Latin.  Now consider that Miss Ranck's other two students who became Latin teachers had similar careers.  Do you see where this is going?  Add on others of her students who entered the teaching field, albeit not in Latin, and took her wisdom and caring to their students.  Add to that the rest of her students whose lives were enriched by their time with her and who were better employees, neighbors, husbands, wives, and parents because they entered the grand conversation with the greatest ancient authors, a conversation hosted by one who modeled what she taught.  Ask them.  They will tell you that this encomium is based in fact, not hyperbole, and you will come to see what truly makes a legend.

Miss Ranck's students who became Latin teachers
(L to R:  Steve Perkins, Alice Ranck Hettle, Steve Prince, Tim Harbison)

One of the happiest days of my high school life was Tuesday, April 29th, 1986.  Miss Ranck had loaned me one of her copies of New Latin Grammar by Charles Bennett, and in it I discovered something about the imperative plural of deponent verbs, those tricky words that have only passive forms and only active meanings.  I shared it with her, and she did something that made my day.  She gave me that copy of Bennett's Grammar and inscribed in the front a message that ended, "May the best of everything be yours in the future, Steve!  You've already earned it."  I can still remember walking to my next class without my feet touching the ground.

Miss Ranck more than earned the respect of the students, parents, and colleagues with whom she worked.  The Romans believed that a person's fama, that which was said about someone, was the most important thing, for it would live even after that person had passed from this life to the next.  If fama has that sort of lasting power, then Miss Ranck's must surely shine beyond that of most.  In fact, as Vergil wrote of Jupiter's intention for the Roman people in Aeneid 1, so it is with the fama, the legend, of Miss Ranck, or as many of her students called her, Miss Alice, even after she retired to marry her high school sweetheart and became Mrs. Alice Hettle.  It has nec metas, nec tempora, neither limits nor duration, and through the lives of her many students will stand sine fine, without limit.  Because this is true, we can all borrow words from Catullus in poem 101, "atque in perpetuum, Magistra, ave atque vale."  "And into eternity, O Teacher, hail and farewell."