Saturday, August 17, 2024
Those of us from Northside High School learned this week that our math teacher, Dr. Ray Lamb, passed away.
He was a giant of a man, he played college football with Burt Reynolds and the Florida State Seminoles in their college days. Remarkably, Lamb started on both sides of the ball.
Yet Dr. Lamb never once mentioned that to us in class.
Imagine not trading on those experiences while teaching in Atlanta, Georgia in the 70s through the 90s. Humility and accomplishment, hand in hand.
After his college days he earned graduate degrees and became a math teacher, first in public schools, and then, after retiring from the Atlanta Public Schools at the age of 52, at Emory University, thank you very much.
Dr. Lamb was a huge, gruff, brilliant, softy.
He knew his physical size could work wonders in managing rowdy classrooms. He also knew his size and his command of calculus could easily be perceived as overwhelming.
In those instances, he could be wonderfully gentle. He knew what to do when a student was near tears in frustration with the material. He helped us all believe we could, would, get the hang of these derivatives. Follow the steps.
He enjoyed his shtick, keeping us engaged and slightly off balance.
On those un-airconditoned late spring afternoons in Atlanta, when math and heat became narcotic and some poor soul’s head would start to bob, he would slap his pointer, always a yard stick, at the blackboard.
CRACK.
Invariably, the mark would call out to their maker, their head snapping up. Busted.
“Isn’t that right, Mr. X?” he would ask the newly awakened.
We learned, in such moments, to stifle our laughter, and enjoy the wry glint in Dr. Lamb’s eye, his speech never varying about the equation on the board.
Dr. Ray Lamb was part of a team of educators at Northside who were, I recognize especially now, stupendous in their craft, teaching, and in their subjects.
Each, fiercely committed to public school education and to making NHS a destination.
I thank the stars that Dr. Lamb, Dr. Heller, Jay Guy, and Dr. William Rudolph, our principal and Ms. Guy’s lesser half, helped us learn.
Individually and as a team, they were all-stars.
Dr. Lamb never drew attention to himself. He was private. He was hilarious. Brad DeMent reminded us that Lamb would assert, after working a problem through with us, that math was intuitive. His mantra.
He made us believe it to be so.
Peter Witte
Northside High School, ‘85
