Professor Rassias passed away last December at the age of 90. Like many of you I experienced first-hand the joys of early morning drill (in my case, during the basketball season) and had an amazing experience on a language study abroad (LSA) in Granada, Spain. I asked the class for memories of Professor Rassias or his method and got some great responses.

Apparently, Professor Rassias, besides loving nicknames, was a bit of a Star Wars fan. Roth Herrlinger wrote, “On the first day of Rassias’ ‘Greek Drama in French Literature’ in my senior year we all went around introducing ourselves. ‘Roth,’ I said. ‘Darth?’ he asked. ‘Um…Roth,’ I said again. ‘Darth Vader, it’s good to have you here!’ he proclaimed. For the next 20 years he greeted me with a huge ‘Darth!’ every time he saw me. After graduation I taught Russian language drill during the summer. An alumnus offered to hire me to use the Rassias Method to teach ‘real estate investor fluency.’ I went to John to ask permission to use his method and he said, ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but if anyone could do it, you could. You’ll probably be back in a month. Now go.’ The best shove out of the nest anyone has ever given me.”

Sarah Stearns shared a great dramatic memory: “One day Rassias arrived in class sucking on a cough drop. He told us that he had an awful cold. The lesson was about a character that coughed so hard his teeth flew out. Rassias acted this out; coughing dramatically, until out of his mouth flew some small white particles. Teeth? No! It was chalk! He’d kept it in his mouth the entire lesson just for that moment!”

Dave Sherwood: “I will never forget the 60 Minutes piece where Rassias, holding an egg, asks, ‘Qu’est-ce que c’est?’ The student is slow? ‘C’est un oeuf!’ Rassias barks, and then cracks the egg on the student’s head. My LSA in Blois, France, was one of my best experiences at Dartmouth. I got the chance to bond with terrific classmates, bike around the Loire Valley and master hackysack in public squares—and speak French.”

Mark Schiffman wrote a wonderful tribute on the class Facebook page: “I really don’t think Professor Rassias ever came close to understanding the depth of appreciation people had for him or the number of lives he directly impacted. That reach is truly mind-boggling in these days of connection through mass media and social media when you consider that these were almost all direct one-to-one contacts sealed with a hug.”

Cat Shrier: “My experience with the Rassias Method came while studying Mandarin Chinese. I struggled with the written language but my basic understanding of the spoken word will always remain, thanks to a wonderful teaching assistant. Each rapid-fire response was rewarded with enthusiastic praise (Hao Ji-la!). I will never forget how to count to seven, having learned a children’s song!”

Deborah Green-LaRoche writes in with some big news! She joined the Tufts Medical Center’s neurology department as a neurointensivist and director of clinical research a little more than a year ago and she and her husband of five years, Stephen, were blessed with a baby boy, Nicholas Francis LaRoche, just before Christmas.

Congratulations are also in order to Chrissy Kirkmire-Mazzola, just named head of the Branson School, a private day school in Marin County, California. Chrissy and Rich are very excited to get back to California to be in closer proximity to so many of their Bay Area Dartmouth pals. A great step forward for her!

—Walter Palmer, 87 South St., Rockport, MA 01966; palmerwalter@mac.com; Rob Crawford, 47 Black Oak Road, Weston, MA 02493; robertlcrawford@yahoo.com