Percy Walter Buss

In the memoir writing I am doing, I tell the tale of my 8th grade math teacher, Percy Walter Buss, better known as Walt. Mr. Buss and I had a complicated existence, as my story tells. During spring break of my year in his class, he died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 49.

A recent “Find A Grave” search revealed that he is buried in an old, historic cemetery near Monmouth, just a few miles from our home. How Walt Buss came to be buried here, 140 miles north of Roseburg where he taught, remains a mystery to me.

While Walt Buss and I had a contentious relationship at best, in many ways in the long run, my experience with him made me a better teacher. Too complicated a story to relate here.

Here’s another strange twist. Walt Buss is buried just south of the town where I studied to be a teacher at Western Oregon University. It’s also the town where I had one of my first teaching jobs. So in those times, I studied and taught while the spirit of Percy Walter Buss roamed the halls, hills, and valleys here in western Oregon.

I left on his grave an iris, and two yellow roses, the school colors of John C. Fremont Junior High, where I found myself in Mr. Buss’s class.

When we got back in our truck to leave, the first song up on my Pandora station was this one. As with other elements of this day, its timing was perfect.
“May God Be With You Til We Meet Again “

https://youtu.be/C_xzdBT7P70