StoryCorps Shorts: Dear Mrs. Doyle
Special | 3mVideo has Closed Captions
Decades after his mother's passing, John Cruitt reaches out to his third grade teacher, Mrs. Doyle.
In 1958, John Cruitt was in third-grade. His teacher was Cecile Doyle. That year, his mother was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. At StoryCorps, he talks with his former teacher about why he reached out to her decades later.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, the Open Society Foundations and the...
StoryCorps Shorts: Dear Mrs. Doyle
Special | 3mVideo has Closed Captions
In 1958, John Cruitt was in third-grade. His teacher was Cecile Doyle. That year, his mother was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. At StoryCorps, he talks with his former teacher about why he reached out to her decades later.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪♪ ♪♪ -We talked about decorating the Christmas tree when I came home from school that day.
But, I walked into the living room, and my aunt was there.
And she said, "Well, honey, Mommy passed away this morning."
And I remember at my mother's wake, someone in my family came to me and said, "Johnny, your teacher's here."
-When I found out she died, I could certainly relate to that, because when I was 11, my own father died.
And you just don't know how you're going to go on without that person.
-When I returned to school, you waited until the other children left the room at the end of the day, and you told me that you were there if I needed you.
And you bent over and kissed me on the head.
It was really the only time someone said to me, "I know what you're feeling, and I know what you're missing."
And I felt, in a very real way, that things really would be okay.
-Well, John, I really loved you as a student, and I'm so glad that I could be there with you for that time.
-Many years later, when I became a teacher, I started to think more and more about you.
And I started to think to myself, "Here I am, with a memory of a teacher who changed my life, and I've never told her that."
And that's why I finally wrote this letter -- "...during the 1958-1959 school year."
-And your letter could not have come at a better time because my husband had Parkinson's, and he was going downhill.
And I had just come home from the hospital, and I read this beautiful letter, and I just was overwhelmed.
-Well, the funny thing is when I finally wrote to you again after 54 years, I typed the letter -- I was afraid my penmanship wasn't going to meet your standards.
-[ Laughs ] -Well, after all this time, Mrs. Doyle, all I can say to you is...thank you.
-John, what can I say?
I'm just glad that we made a difference in each other's life.
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Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, the Open Society Foundations and the...