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退休英语教师J. 戴斯蒙德·德斯·科科伦今早摔了一跤去世了. 享年74岁. 他的麦当劳生涯跨越了令人难忘的35年.

A colleague once described the beloved Irishman this way: "In the eyes of Des Corcoran, 一个伟大的老师的灵魂在闪烁, 眼泪, 不畏缩的, caring--it's there in those eyes--that tell his students of his understanding and his compassion and his faith. They are the eyes that have seen hardship and misery and that know well the strength of the human spirit."

John Desmond Corcoran was born on October 3, 1935, in "the original Dundalk," Ireland. 他曾就读于都柏林的大学学院, 主修英语/爱尔兰文学，辅修数学和拉丁语. Des taught in Northern Ireland before traveling to Nigeria, where he met his beloved wife, Kathie. She was serving in the Peace Corps, and he was volunteering with Catholic Charities. 德斯在非洲做了五年的志愿者和旅行.

移民美国.S. 1966年6月，德斯跟随凯西回到了她的家乡西弗吉尼亚州. 那个秋天, 新婚夫妇来到麦克唐纳, where Des had been hired to teach English and 教练 varsity soccer and track.

McDonogh was the beneficiary of a state law that prevented public schools from hiring an immigrant like Des Corcoran. 学生们都很珍惜他. In addition to his delightful brogue, Des had a way about him that made his "lads" feel valued.

作为回报，学校社区也很重视他. 德斯·科科伦获得了所有重要的荣誉. The alumni association bestowed its 校友 Service Award on Des in 1992 and made him an honorary alumnus in 2001. 1998年，他成为第一位获得霍华德C. “荷兰”艾思捐赠教学椅.

"My first priority in teaching is to make each student feel that he is an individual with dignity and self-worth,他曾经这样想。. "I still believe that the school exists for the child and strive to create in my classroom a friendly, 宽容, 如果有时要求很高, 大气."

在麦克唐纳有学习专家之前，学校有Des. He subscribed to poet Yeats's view of education as "not the filling of a pail, 而是点燃一团火." While he taught McDonogh's top students with passion, he favored those 谁 struggled. “这群学生对我来说很特别，”他写道. 作为奥顿阅读障碍协会的一员, he tried to be 敏感的 to their persistent frustrations and sought to help them learn in different ways, 在这个过程中给予他们足够的鼓励.

一位同事曾称德斯·科科伦为“人类电器修理工”, sharing with his wife Kathie an abiding faith in basic human goodness and searching to affirm that belief through their direct, 敏感的, 常识性的指导."

他感激他的同事，就像爱他的学生一样. “正在做一个专门的, 要求, and self-sacrificing faculty is inspirational and has prevented me from becoming blase. Over the years I have seen how my three children have benefited from the efforts of this faculty wearing its many hats of teacher, 顾问, 教练, 辅导员, 导师, 和朋友."

His best friend was wife and colleague Kathie, and theirs was a partnership for the ages. A former staff member described the couple as "the perfect example of the sum being greater than its parts.他们的个人生活和职业生活经常是混合在一起的, 尤其是当他想办法让本来就无聊的材料变得生动起来的时候. 他写了, "Kathie has such stimulating ideas that I found myself singing an 18th century Dublin ballad to my AP students recently--and in a Dublin accent!"

The Corcorans loved to travel and both specialized in literature from other cultures. Des, of course, loved the work of Joyce, Yeats, Heaney, and others from his native country. 像任何真正的学者一样, 然而, 他从发掘新的文学珍品中找到乐趣, particularly if they revealed an unfamiliar way of life or a pivotal time in a country's history.

他最讨厌的事情之一就是打分. "I have never been comfortable with the fact that the grades I give students' work will have some bearing on the students' college prospects. I prefer the British system where student and teacher are on the same side, 还有一些匿名人士, 密室里的食人魔坐着做最后的审判."

Coaching gave Des freedom from the subjective evaluations he so loathed. For 25 years, he oversaw the track and field program, keeping detailed records of performances. 把这些标记挂在学生运动员面前,德斯写道, "I have always promoted the ideal of achieving a personal best in each competition. ...I have never sought victory at the expense of individual commitment, team spirit, or sportsmanship."

退休前, Des delighted in the opportunity to teach students in the Foundations Program and to ready them for the rigors of upper school. “现在和我的预科学生在一起,他写道, “我觉得自己又像个教练了——教书, 鼓励, 准备, 甚至指导, 但不是评分!"

Des and Kathie Corcoran also forged relationships with students in the boarding community, 当他们成为布兰登85的父母时，这种关系加深了吗, 91年肖恩, 和1993年的Niamh. The family moved into the yellow farmhouse at #1 Farm Road in 1977 and lived there until 1999.

“游客们形容这座黄色的农舍‘古雅’、‘迷人’,' but I always felt its magic and knew that its front walk had to be made into a yellow brick road. I found the yellow bricks dumped down at the dam and laid my new walkway ... Kathie and I shelled peas together on the front porch and visited with alumni, 谁, 开车过去, 会停下来坐下. 但在校园父母的夜晚或下雪天, 厨房里充满了活力和快乐的笑声,德斯在《bet356体育投注》杂志上写道, 房子在2000年被拆除后.

Des retired in 2001, but he remained close to the place where he spent most of his life. 2009年和2010年，他和凯西在根花园培育了一块地, 尽管德斯不得不把更繁重的家务留给别人.

刊登在2009年校刊《bet356体育投注》上, Des revealed in print his incomparable ability for storytelling one last time. His tales of the competitive, pre-Roots faculty gardens left readers chuckling.

德斯在园艺和文学方面的知识是传奇的, but he was a self-proclaimed "dodo bird" when it came to laptop technology. He cheerfully admitted that he flunked the laptop instruction class for faculty and had to attend tutoring sessions. He feared he might have to learn to email his attendance and did not want to incur the secretary's wrath.

德斯·科科伦仍然是麦克唐纳社区的感恩成员. "Over the years McDonogh School has been very good to me and to my family. I have never been cynical about the concept of the McDonogh Family and am proud to be a member of it."