Life-long educator John Gores retires

John Gores, the instructional facilitator for the Hot Springs County school district, will be retiring at the end of the 2015-16 school year, after a lifelong commitment to education.

Gores said he came to Wyoming in Dec. 1975 chasing oil rigs to put himself through college.

"I went from the oil rig to the classroom in two days," he said. "Thursday I was working out on a Parker oil rig and Monday I was Mr. Gores."

He taught half a year in 1976 in Riverton before resigning in the summer of 1977 to join the Peace Corps, he said.

"I was a replacement teacher in Malaysia," he said. "When I returned, I taught in Riverton from '78 to '81."

Gores said he then moved to Port Orchard, Wash. He then was hired back in Riverton where he worked from 1983 to 1989.

"So, I essentially was hired in Riverton on three separate occasions," he said.

Gores said he went on to spend several years as a principal. From 1989 to 1999, he was a principal in Wright, Wyo. From 1999 to 2008, he was a principal in Lander, Wyo.

In 2008, he retired for the first time from his principal position in Lander, he said.

"As fate would have it, I got the last job here in Thermopolis," Gores said. "I taught 5th and 6th grades and then I retired from teaching in 2011."

In Oct. 2012, Gores said he was asked to substitute teach reading for the rest of the 2012-13 school year. He was then offered a contract to act as an instructional facilitator, concentrating mainly on language arts. He acts as a reading coach and participates in reading programs as well as at-risk programs.

"This year in my last year, I'm going to ride off in the sunset as a language arts facilitator primarily at the middle school," he said.

Gores said he has several responsibilities that he is passionate about as an instructional facilitator.

"I help teachers with language arts," he said. "I help students with reading. I'm helping a couple of kids write books."

Gores said he spent a large part of his career recognizing at-risk students and arranging friendly home-visits with their parents.

"With the exception of the two years being a facilitator, I've done home visits," he said. "As a teacher and principal, I'd do home visits - 40 to 60 visits per year. These were very friendly visits. We'd have dinner. I'd meet the kids' pets. I'd meet their parents and talk about their kids. It was a real commitment, but I loved it."

While he was teaching, Gores said he would bring his students donuts every Friday.

He also has a very large collection of ties. Most of his ties are cartoon-, travel- or teaching-related and he wore a different one every day, except on casual Fridays.

Gores said he plans to spend his retirement with his grandchildren.

"I want to spend time with grandkids and write some memoirs," he said. "I did a lot of traveling when I was younger and I want to write about it while I still remember."

Working in education has been a wonderful experience, Gores said.

"It's been a wonderful experience and I've met some dear friends," he said. "It's just been the most wonderful time for me."

The Independent Record will feature other school district retiree stories from now until the end of the school year.