PEA RIDGE — For longer than many experienced teachers have been alive, “Mr. H” has been involved in education.

Thomas Humphreville has only been teaching in Pea Ridge for five years, but he’s been in education for 46 years.

“He’s pretty cool for an old dude,” one of his students said.

Another said: “He never yells at his students.”

In Pea Ridge - known affectionately as Mr. H. - he teaches Algebra I and II and algebraic connections, “everything but geometry” and no advanced placement classes.

He works to inspire students to do their best, noting that something as simple as taking over the family farm can be improved upon with a good education andgood math skills.

Being patient is imperative for a teacher, Mr. H said: “Remember,every child is sent to school from parents who’ve done the best they knew to do.”

Although it helps to have a knack for math, everyone call learn basic math, he said, addingthat to be successful, the teacher must be aware of the personality of the student and recognize various learning styles. “You have 30 different personalities,” he said about the classroom of students.

“Move around in the room. Put it on paper. Be patient. Encourage.”

“I’m here to help you. We will do this together,” he said he tells his students.

“My feelings are inside me. You don’t control my feelings,” he said he tries to teach the students. “I have expectations of each child and what they can deliver for me.”

Mr. H recalls one student whom he had as a freshman, then as a senior who went to the Air Force Academy. “He had the basic motivation to want to go. I helped him with the background, withthe math.”

When he was a principal, he had second generation students - students who were children of former students. “I think that was a lot easier because when the parent knows you, they’ve already experienced you - they know what to expect.”

Humphreville, who regularly wears a dress shirt and tie, is known for his rigid self-discipline. His students know he does 25 push-ups every morning and walks two miles every night. He rises at 4 a.m. and goes to bed at 8:30 every night.

“To keep my heart going,” Humphreville smiled, when asked about his regime. “I’ve inherited longevity. If I take care of myself, I’ll obtain it also.”

He said his father lived to be 80 and his mother was 93 when she died. Heis now 67.

“I never was the type to sit around and talk about retirement,” Humphreville said as a smile spread across his face. “I’m not ‘retiring,’ I’m just going home.”

He didn’t admit to have any particular hobby, but said he likes to piddle around at different projects. He recently built apergola with a swing for his wife.

Humphreville was one of four children born to an Oklahoma coal miner.

“From the time I was 7 years old, Dad would say: ‘Boy, you get an education and get out of this.’”

He was good at math. He loved airplanes, so he considered being a pilot, but knew he loved family life and wanted to be a family man.

“Math was always easy for me,” he said. He also played baseball.

From Wister, Okla., Humphreville graduated from Fanshaw (Okla.) High School, then earned his bachelor’s degree in math and master’s degree in math education both from Southeast State University in Durant, Okla. His first teaching job was at a small school in Pocola, Okla., where he met BarbaraGrizzle who was working at a bank in Fort Smith.

Soon, they were married.

The couple has been married for 43 years and have three children - all daughters, and six grandchildren - four girls and two boys.

Mrs. Humphreville recently retired from accounting.

The young couple moved to Sullivan, Mo., (a 7A school) where he taughthigh school math for seven years. They then moved back to Pocola, where he launched a 17-year run as principal at the elementary school. Humphreville earned his principal certification from Northeast University in Tallequah, Okla.

Later, Humphreville taught at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, part time. He also taught at First Lutheran School in Fort Smith.

About five years ago, the couple started driving around northwest Arkansas looking for a place to live and a job possibility.

“She (the daughter) liked Pea Ridge, so we looked there,” Humphreville said.

One of his younger daughters already lived in northwest Arkansas, now two of their daughters live - and teach - here, following in their father’s footsteps.

Deronda Ray teaches fourth grade at Cooper Elementary and Dedra Potts teaches art at Sugar Creek Elementary. The eldest daughter teaches first grade at St. Bernard Catholic School in Cordova, Tenn.

In the four decades he’s been teaching, Mr. H has seen changes, mostly from the technological advancesin the culture. He said young people today are so much more familiar with technology - television, video games, computers - than students were 40 years ago. He sees advantages in the graphing calculators, but believes students still need to memorize basic math facts and not rely on calculators and computers. “It has to be up here - between the ears,” he said, “nobody can take that away from you.”

“If a kid wants an education, and if his parents encourage him, he can get an education,” Mr. H said.

“You can do anything you set your mind to,” Mr.

H smiled. “I have fun. Between the time I get up and the time I go to bed, that’s the only time I’ll have to make a difference.

“I tell the kids ‘You’ve got one shot at time. You can’tget back Tuesday.’”

“Anybody can think. You have to be persistent. Stay with the program.”

After June 2011, Mr. H will change his routine.

Although he may still rise early, he will no longer drive to school to stand before a classroom instructing young minds how to add, subtract, multiply and perform algebraic equations.

News, Pages 1 on 03/23/2011