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Classroom honors substitute teacher

Brooker Creek Elementary School recently honored Ken Waters, a substitute teacher who died of cancer in August, with an outdoor classroom.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published October 10, 2005

	[Special to the Times]
	Ken Waters once dressed up as the Cat in the Hat at Brooker Creek Elementary school in Tarpon Springs. This photo is part of a photo collage that hangs in the new outdoor classroom area created in his memory.

TARPON SPRINGS - No matter what kind of substitute teacher she needed, Brooker Creek Elementary principal Nell Chapman always knew who to call.

Ken Waters.

He could teach first grade, work with autistic children or lead gym class.

"I would call him at home and say, "Ken, I need a P.E. teacher. Get your shorts on,"' Chapman said. "He was just always there for us - always."

Diagnosed with cancer in June, Waters died on Aug. 4 at age 63. The Lansbrook resident became involved with the school when his granddaughter, Raechel Papuga, now in sixth grade, was a second-grader there.

After four years of forming special relationships, he left a school full of children, teachers and staffers determined to keep his memory alive. Now, what started as a PTA proposal for a memorial plaque has grown into a whimsical, leafy, outdoor classroom.

"He did for me what I had wanted to do for two years," Chapman said. "I now have my outdoor classroom."

Parent Rene Hutchisson organized the project for the PTA, converting a corner about 16 by 20 feet outside the media room into a gardenlike spot with benches, plants in pots that the students decorated and a painted floor with a pond in the center.

On one wall is a collage of photos of Waters fishing, playing golf, on a missionary trip to Cuba and dressed as the Cat in the Hat.

On the other is a giant mural of a magnolia tree.

Brass leaves with messages hang on the tree. At $25 each, the leaves helped pay for the project. Any funds left over will go for books and other items for the media center.

Hutchisson said Waters was a friend of her father's, Ron Theriault, and that they worked at GTE together. Waters retired from GTE after 31 years, when he was 55. At retirement, he was the assistant vice president for government affairs, a lobbyist to the Florida Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

When Hutchisson and other volunteers were painting the tree, some green paint spilled to the floor. That quickly became grass, and with Chapman's okay, the painting grew to cover much of the floor. A pond surrounded by cobblestones holds two fish. Suggestions - including a turtle for the pond - are still pouring in.

"I know Ken's up there saying, "That's just what I wanted,"' Hutchisson said.

Talk with students, teachers and staff, and they all have favorite stories about Waters. Whether it was when he dressed up as a pilgrim or as the Cat in the Hat, or when he kidnapped stuffed frogs and held them for ransom, they smile when they talk about him.

"Ken made everybody feel like he or she was his favorite," said second-grade teacher Patty Spiers.

Dottie Waters, married to Waters since 1963, and their daughter, Kristi Waters of East Lake, stopped in Friday to see the outdoor classroom for the first time.

Dottie Waters was overcome with emotion at first, then examined each part of the room and each inscribed leaf.

"It's just a beautiful tribute," she said. "I can't thank everyone enough. He would love it."

She said her husband loved every minute he spent at the school. He would come home with stories about how kids had thrown their arms around his legs, saying, "Mr. Waters! Mr. Waters!" And how one time on the playground, a girl slipped her hand into his.

Dottie Waters said she would look forward to visiting the space.

"And when you start volunteering here," Hutchisson said, "you'll see all the kids reading here."

[Last modified October 10, 2005, 01:18:12]