News from the Maine Department of Education
By Argy Nestor, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist
Just after the 1
st
of January I received a surprise email forwarded by a friend of my family. It was from my
high school art teacher, Bruce Aydelotte. Attached to the email was a picture of the two of us from 38 years
ago. In the photo Mr. Aydelotte is demonstrating pen and ink drawing and I was standing next to him wear-
ing one of my favorite outfits, a Mondrian dress. I am sure those of you who went to high school during that
era remember those dresses. And don’t I wish I still had that dress today! I loved it. And everyone liked Mr.
Aydelotte. He was young and could relate to students, he was good looking and his class was interesting
and fun. Everyone was engaged and focused in their learning. Regardless of whether students had Mr. Ay-
delotte as a teacher or not, they all knew him because he drove a really cool Porsche. When he left the high
school at the end of my sophomore year it was a surprise and a disappointment to many of us.
Needless to say, an email from him contributed to the start of my happy new year and has given us a
chance to catch up on the years since 1970. He has sent me several emails with pictures of him, his family,
his visits to Maine, and his cars. When I
opened a picture of him with his two beautiful
daughters in front of his 65
th
birthday cake, I
realized that I’ve aged. (Imagine?!) He ex-
plained that he has had numerous old cars
over the years and enjoys going to car
shows. After leaving teaching he took a vari-
ety of paths, one was to graduate school. It
turns out he did his masters program where I
did my undergraduate degree and was there
during the same time. I wondered if we had
walked on the same paths?! He has visited
Maine on many occasions and one of his
jobs took him to several of the Maine cam-
puses. Again, I wondered if he had been at a
lighthouse or other location when I was there.
How many of you have a teacher you think
about but have no idea how to get in touch or
even know if the person is still alive? In my
first email to him I mentioned how I often
asked students if they’ve thanked the teach-
ers who have meant a lot to them, the teach-
ers who have influenced them in a career or
personal choice, the ones who had or still do
support them? I had that opportunity to walk
down memory lane and thank Mr. Aydelotte
for teaching me, not just about art, but about
life. I know that each of you have taught so much more than techniques and skills, but also about life. I
thanked him for sharing his knowledge of calligraphy, something I still love doing. In some small way by
thanking Mr. Aydelotte I have reached out to other teachers in my mind. I got out my high school yearbook
to see who else I really wanted to thank. And it is my other art teacher, so I Googled her and found a link to
a picture of her and am trying to track her down. Mr. Aydelotte is thinking about traveling to Maine this
summer and I look forward to seeing him again and meeting his family and introducing him to mine.

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