When I was superintendent of schools in Palo Alto, California,
Polly Tyner,
the president of our board of trustees,
wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times.
Polly's son, Jim,
had great difficulty in school.
He was classified as educationally handicapped
and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers.
But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room.
His parents acknowledged his academic difficulties,
but always tried to help him see his strengths
so that he could walk with pride.
Shortly after Jim finished high school,
he was killed in a motorcycle accident.
After his death,
his mother submitted this letter to the newspaper.
Today we buried our 20-year-old son.
He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night.
How I wish I had known when I talked to him last
that it would be the last time.