Remembering Mr. Bobcat

For 43 years, thousands of sophomores passed through the doors of Schweitzer Hall at San Angelo Central High School to make their way to Pre-AP Biology with one Robert Price.

Mr. Price was a legend at Central. With his unique teaching style and ability to make learning a joyful experience, students flooded his classroom each year to the point that when he retired, he was teaching six sections of classes where no desk was left empty. No lesson was ever the same, and while he repeated his curriculum for a new set of students each year, he brought the same enthusiasm with which he began his teaching career.

Students dreaded his “Lab Practical” and “Bug Project,” and anxiety filled their stomachs during the infamous “Sex Week” where they learned about the human reproductive system. Many students chose to help Mr. Price tend to the International Water Lilly Collection across from campus in lieu of completing several projects and, rain or shine, one could see them wading in the waters of the pond, diligently working to maintain the lilies’ beauty.

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Above: Robert Price

It wasn’t all work, though. Oftentimes, students would have lunch with him in his classroom, and a game of “Bucket Ball” would quickly ensue. Bucket Ball, a game unique to Mr. Price’s classroom, consisted of placing two aluminum trash cans on opposite corners of his giant classroom, and teams would try to skink tennis balls in the cans without them bouncing out.  His belly laugh would fill the room when he’d make his shot to win the game, and then the gracious winner would proceed to rub the victory in his students’ faces (lovingly, of course).

This mischievous and playful streak is something that Mr. Price carried with him into his family life. His daughter, Shellane Price King, said that he was always joking and could make everyone laugh. He especially enjoyed joking with his grandchildren.

Shellane’s favorite memory of her father and her children was when he would take them fishing.

“They would spend at least one week with him every summer, and they loved every minute of it,” she remembers.

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Above: Robert Price with his family. (Price family)

Papa, as his grandchildren would call him, came to teach a lesson to their class every year. He paraded his students’ bug projects through his granddaughter and grandson’s classrooms, and taught the students about the all of the insects on display.

“He just loved teaching...it wasn’t a job for him. He loved it.”

Mr. Price’s love for his students never went unnoticed. One of his last students, Central High alumna Allie Weatherby, recalled a tender moment that she shared with Mr. Price shortly after her grandfather suddenly passed away. She remembered a moment  “at least 20 years ago, [Mr. Price] went to the hospital where my grandpa worked and everyone thought he actually was my grandfather.”

Ironically, when her own grandfather passed away, it was Mr. Price who was there to comfort her.

“He hugged me, and we cried for what felt like forever," Weatherby said. "He was just that kind of guy. He felt for you.”

Weatherby finished by saying, “He was such a blessing to know.”

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Mr. Price wasn’t just a blessing to his students but to his family as well. His daughter described him as the “leader of the family” and that he had the wonderful capability of making everyone feel loved and cherished.

One person, though, he cherished more than the rest: his wife of more than 40 years, Cherylene.

Shellane described their love as “once in a lifetime” and that they were truly the loves of each other’s life. When her father passed away, she comforted her mother by recalling the extraordinary love the two shared.

“Mom, not everybody gets that," Shellane said. "You had Dad for over 40 years. Some people never get that in their whole lives.”

Robert Sterling Price passed away on Aug. 13, 2013 after battling Leukemia for over a year. Former students from the beginning of his career to the end filled First United Methodist Church in downtown San Angelo for his funeral, and appropriately, his casket was carried to its final resting place to the tune of the Central High School fight song.

At the end of every school year, Mr. Price asked his students to write him a goodbye letter for their last assignment. In return, he wrote them one of his own.  Filled with love, admiration, and hope for the future, he left his students with this:

“As your teacher and fellow traveler in this adventure we call life, I am exceedingly proud of your growth… and who you have become. I admire your many talents and revel in your singular uniqueness. How lucky I’ve been to be a teacher, but more importantly, your teacher, because you have taught me to trust the future is in good hands, yours! Remember where you came from, keep your eyes on where you are going, and don’t forget to stop and smell the roses along the way. But the greatest and most important lesson of all I tried to teach you is to remember this one great truth of your life: I believe that somehow, somewhere, and someday…you really will make a difference in this world, just wait and see!”

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Above: Mr. Price with some of the last students he taught at San Angelo Central High School. (Price family)

All over the world, right at this very moment, thousands of Mr. Price’s former students are living the greatest lesson he taught them. They are making a difference in their communities as politicians, lawyers, doctors, nurses, scientists and, to his great pleasure, teachers.  And if you were to ask each and every one of those students what they remember most about their beloved Biology teacher, they would tell you the same thing: Mr. Price always made them feel special, capable, and that their lives were important.

His granddaughter, Kanada King, summed him up in one simple sentence, “My Papa was love.”