Mr. Werthman's Neighborhood

By Stephen DeBisschop

Oct 26, 2018

QUINCY - An older man walks into a class of four, he’s long, that’s the best way to describe his body type. He’s tall, his limbs are stretched and his torso is small, he begins to take attendance, and the morning ritual begins. “Is James here,” he says, “has anyone seen James?” James is sitting there, in the class of course, but everyone seems to have forgotten. No one’s ever heard of a James, James himself says, “James? Who’s that?” Mr. Werthman is of course joking, he knows James is there, there’s only four of us, but he likes to start class off right, with a friendly joke. After this Mr. Werthman compliments the whole class, very rarely do any of us miss a day he says, and according to him we’re some of the kindest, friendliest and brightest students he’s ever had. We’re sure he says this to all of his students, but he insists it’s just us; it’s still very sweet either way, and we know he means every kind word he says.

Mr. Werthman was born in Niskayuna, New York, on Nov. 1, 1952. His family lived in Gloversville, New York and that’s where he spent his early years, he looks upon them with great fondness “That time in my life in my memories will always be bathed in sunshine. ” He remembers playing lots of sports, baseball in the American Legion and basketball in the backyard where the ball would sail above the hoop and into his neighbor's yard. They were an older couple and he suspects that they never took too kindly to the basketballs landing on their property. Some of his teachers from that time stand out as well, a Mrs. Perselle in particular who was a kind and sweet lady. A more unique memory of Mr. Werthman’s was going to see the Saratoga horse races with his mom and dad. While horse racing has declined in popularity since those times Saratoga still has an operating race track. In 1966 his family moved from Gloversville to the Boston area and that’s where Mr. Werthman considers his early childhood to have ended.

Here he went to Needham high school, discovered his favorite author and here he decided he wanted to become a teacher. His English teacher, Mrs. Berlew, had them read Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy and he loved the book so much that he read it twice; when it came time to take the test, however, he froze and couldn’t answer any of the questions. His teacher let him retake it later because she knew he would do well on it, and he did. That moment of kindness and the rest of her teaching is what inspired Mr. Werthman to become a teacher, and I think if Mrs. Berlew is who he bases his teaching on she must have been an exceptionally kind lady.

After highschool Mr. Werthman went to Middlebury College in Vermont but only stayed there for a short while before returning to the Boston area to take courses at the many different schools. It wasn’t long again, however, until he returned to Middlebury and finished his schooling there. It’s one of his proudest moments, graduating from college, after such an extended period of time and after moving around from place to place. Shortly after he started teaching, and while he’s taught at a few different schools North Quincy has been the most impactful. He can remember during his first year receiving the letter containing the results of the National Latin Exam and how proud he was feeling it’s weight, how heavy it was, laden with medals of gold, bronze and silver.

While he’s not certain, Mr. Werthman is thinking this will be his last year teaching. When asked what he loved most about the school, he said it was its character. His colleagues here have all been kind to him, but even more so he believes the students have been of exceptional quality. In all of his years here the students have been some of the kindest and brightest he has ever met. If there’s one thing he hopes for, it’s that the spirit of the school never changes.