English teacher George Ariffe made such an impression on one of his students 49 years ago that when Ariffe had a stroke, the student helped nurse his teacher back to health by reading him his favorite poems.
In 1960, English teacher George Ariffe made an indelible impression on one of his students, 16-year-old Philip Blackwell.
“My junior year was really an awkward year,” Blackwell told the Chicago Tribune. “There was an in-group, and I wasn’t in it.”
But by teaching him the joys of poetry and literature, Ariffe helped to instill a love of language and the written word in his young pupil. Thanks to Ariffe’s lessons and encouragement, Blackwell became the valedictorian of his class the following year, and went on to attend Divinity School at Yale University.
Over the years, Blackwell stayed in touch with his favorite teacher. Ariffe even gave Blackwell a special gift: an autographed series of English literature anthologies that he had co-edited, with the inscription, “Very best wishes to my good friend and favorite clergyman, Phil.”
So in April, when Ariffe had a stroke that left him almost completely debilitated, Blackwell knew that it was time to help his old mentor the way that Ariffe had helped him: through the love of poetry. When he first went to visit Ariffe shortly after the stroke, the only intelligible thing Ariffe said was “I want to die.”
Blackwell made an effort to pull Ariffe out of his dark spell by reading his favorite poems to him. He would read him excerpts from Milton, Chaucer, and Shakespeare—many of the same poems that Arliffe had asked Blackwell and his other students to memorize decades ago.
“I thought: ‘George does not have access to his vocabulary, but he and I share vocabulary in large part because he gave it to me—these poems,’ ” Blackwell said. “If I read back to him his vocabulary, not only might there be some meaning in it, it might be a technique for him to retrieve some capacity to speak.”
While Ariffe’s recuperation has been slow, and his language skills are still limited, Blackwell’s friendship has helped transform Ariffe’s outlook. In the aftermath of the stroke, Ariffe had turned away food; now, he eats with pleasure, and always looks forward to Blackwell’s visits.
Though the one-time teacher still struggles to speak, he had no trouble expressing his gratitude towards his dear friend.
“This one’s the best,” he said, pointing at Blackwell. “I’m so glad.”