Gordon F. Vars Bog Day Celebration Saturday

If we're lucky, sometime in the course of our life a true teacher comes along, takes us by the hand, and changes our path irrevocably.  For me, and plenty of other lucky people in Kent, one of those teachers was Gordon Vars.  Mind you I was never fortunate enough to be one of his official students, but like all great educators, Gordon taught whether he was in a classroom or a restaurant. I learned far more than I originally thought I would from Gordon's teaching, about a variety of subjects, and never once did I attend his lectures.  The value of a great teacher is measured far beyond their salary, and was the case for Dr. Vars.

It was in a restaurant that I first met Gordon, at Digger's over Friday morning breakfast with Kent Environmental Council.  The Emeritus Professor from education seemed so unexpected as a representative of the Friends of the Kent Bog group, but I quickly learned just how well-suited to the position he was.  His passion for teaching and his absolute love of the bog gave him an advantage over many ecologists and biologists I knew; he was able to connect to people and "meet them where they are."  He taught not to hear himself talk, but to help the student fill in the blanks of their questions.

Unfortunately, Dr. Vars was hit and killed this winter, as most of you know.  While goodbyes have been said, and wounds have started to heal, a person as great as him will always be remembered.  And so on Saturday, October 13th, at the Kent Bog, there will be a dedication of the boardwalk in his name (a recommendation of Kent Blogger Sally Burnell, if memory serves).  The day begins at 10 AM, and will contain music, tours, light refreshments, and appropriately enough, information for the taking.  Enjoy the Haymaker Farmers' Market first, then stop by the bog, and have a thoroughly Kent day, in honor of a thoroughly Kent personality.  And take a moment to remember the dedicated educators in your life; it's with their tutelage that great ideas are nurtured, wither by prepping the soil for a seed yet to come, or nourishing a stunted and forgotten plant.