Beale 1 David Beale will retire from Delphi Community High School this month, after 38 years of teaching.

Beale was born in Delphi and graduated from DCHS in 1960. He continued his education at Indiana University, where he majored in history. He taught at Frankfort during his first year, before taking a position at Delphi, where he has spent every year since.

He has taught U.S. history, but in recent years has concentrated on world history and economics for sophomores and seniors. In the afternoons he teaches an EMT course. Beale has served as the chairman for the social studies department since 1972.

Beale said when he got to college, he found he had a real interest in history, especially while he

was studying other countries, like

One of the reasons Beale decided to teach was because of the admiration he had for his high school chemistry teacher, Charlie Geheb.

"He made the subject great and he was a wonderful man. On a snow day I called him at home to see if I could come in that day to finish up some lab work. He said sure, he'd be there anyway. When I got there, the classroom was full, every student had come in! No one else was in the school, just our class."

Beale said that Geheb made everything interesting.

"He could tell stories....he taught us the atomic theory based on an analogy of dating," laughed Beale.

Beale mentioned that during his teaching career, he has always tried to help his students understand what's going on in the world outside of Delphi. He said that in his college courses, his studies of other countries made him realize how sheltered he had been in Delphi as a boy. He wanted his students to have an appreciation of the events of the world, because it affects their lives too.

He also tries to instill in them a sense of responsibility.

"I hold kids responsible for doing their homework. I had a student one year who wasn't doing very well. She said, 'I can't do this.' I told her she could, and I helped her step-bystep. She ended up getting an A."

In addition to helping students like that, Beale said the rewards of teaching are that he was able to watch them as they grew up, "and actually teach them something. We're lucky to have good students come through," he smiled.

Beale said he returned to Delphi after college because he liked the area so well. "This is a wonderful school

system. Two of my kids were exceptionally bright, but they wanted to go to West Lafayette to go to 'the best schools.' I told them teachers here would help them and they would have opportunities they might not otherwise have."

"Both stayed here and both have said they feel they were lucky to go to Delphi. They said they felt prepared. My daughter went to I.U. and my son went to Stanford. He said he felt as prepared as anyone there."

In 1964, Beale went to Equidor with the Peace Corps. He'd like to return there to see how things have changed, and to see whether he made a difference there.

"I worked as a type of extension agent and helped farmers

with their livestock and crops. One man couldn't believe you could raise a chicken in six to eight weeks. He didn't understand nutrition. When we proved that it worked, he asked me if the same would apply to his kids."

Beale and his wife, Sandra, have been married for 38 years and have four children, Lisa McCarter, Aimee Roy, Mathew Beale and Angela Martin.

Beale has worked as a paramedic every Saturday and Sunday for 30 years, and plans to continue to work for Carroll County and St. Elizabeth ambulance services, and even attend more in-services and conferences. But he said he's going to take the weekends off and make time to spend with his six grandchildren.