I arrived at Greenwich High in the very early 80’s. Ann Marie Hannon moved into the roll of Math Dept. Chairperson just when I arrived. My first couple of years, even though I had taught mostly Honors and AP courses in my prior stints, those courses were “owned” and rightly so, by established veterans and I was teaching the basic core courses mostly, Geometry and Algebra 2. In my third year Ann Marie told me I was going to teach one section of Honors Algebra 2 and I was thrilled at the prospect of “moving up”. I was young and incredibly egotistical and self confident and was chomping at the bit to teach the best of the best. That soon morphed into multiple sections of HA2 and Honors Pre Calc, and shortly AP Calc was added to the list.

At the conclusion of each school year we would meet individually with the dept chair and be told what we were going to teach the following year, so after multiple years of a very elevated schedule, I was greeted with the “request” to teach the most remedial 12th grade course we offered, then titled Math Apps 3. I was taken aback and asked if I had done something wrong. Ann Marie told me, not only had I done nothing wrong but her belief was that everyone in the department should teach at every level and that she thought I’d be great with that particular group. While I was not at all convinced, it was not really a “request”, and so began 15 years that ended up where I taught every single course in our catalog from Math Apps 1 through Multi Variable Calculus (what would be a second year college course for those who had completed AP Calc BC as juniors).

Not only did I discover she was correct about being working each course, it allowed me to expand my focus and truly understand the connection between each part of every course and allowed me to always answer the most oft asked questions: “Why are we doing this?” It also allowed me to speak to parents and counselors when placement was being considered. It gave me insight when teaching as an adjunct in various college courses where some weaknesses were in some classes and what part of the “past” was missing for them.

She not only encouraged me to keep learning, she allowed me to take risks, bringing the graphing calculator into HPC in 1990 and forever changing how things would work in a positive way.

We had a discussion at the end of one school year where she told me she had purchased a small house on Cape Cod and was planning on retiring, that was around 30 or so years ago. We stayed in touch, mostly be email over the years, exchanging birthday and holiday greetings and other things. When I retired from public school teaching in 2012 we met for lunch that December and she came with a gift. It was an ice bucket she had kept for me from the time George Bush visited Greenwich High years earlier and she remembered then I was kidding about wanting one. We shared many laughs, a couple of pints of Guinness and ended the last toast with a rousing “Sláinte”. The best part for me was being able to tell her exactly what she meant to me and how I felt about her.

It was the last time we saw each other in person. We always tried to make plans but life always got in the way for one or both of us.

I had sent her via email, my latest piece from the local bi weekly paper I write for now thinking she’d enjoy the topic. My mouth dropped when I got a reply, not from her, but from her best friend letting me know she had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on April 8th. The reply included her phone number and the offer to call if I wanted. I did, and we spoke for a long time about the impact my friend Ann Marie Hannon had on both our lives. We laughed together and we cried together and we both agreed that because we knew her, we had been changed for good….

Tonight, I poured a dram of Jameson, smiled and again gave a rousing Sláinte up to the sky where I know she was smiling…I miss you my friend and I will be forever grateful for all you allowed me to become.

This is the only picture I have but I want to share it here.