Lee & Peggy Doyen

Richard Fobes writes:

This picture needs no introduction to anyone that was in Freshman or Sophomore Ag class.  To those who weren't, this is Lee and Peggy Doyen.  One of my clearest memories of four years at BHS involved Mr. Doyen.  This guy is big enough to hunt bears with a switch and nobody in his classes even thought about talking back to him.  He was not mean.  He just commanded respect.  He intended for each of us in his classes to live up to our potential and he would not accept less from us.  One day Mr. Doyen called a student down in the hallway.  This particular individual had a somewhat troubled background and not a lot of respect for authority.  He informed Mr. Doyen that he was not his teacher and would not be telling him what to do.  My attention was drawn to this situation by the sound of one of Mr. D's size 15 shoes forcibly colliding with the student's backside,  which it did several more times as he led the miscreant to Mr. Chestnut's office by the ear.  Obviously, that would not fly today. In the name of progress we have stripped both parents and teachers of any forceful way to communicate respect for authority to those young people who do not want to hear the message.  A lot of boys today grow up with minimal adult supervision and weak or non-existent male role models and then we wonder why they bring guns to school and blast each other.  The student that was a recipient of Mr. Doyen's shoe?  He graduated and made a career out of the military.  The last time I talked to him,  he seemed like a solid upstanding citizen.  I consider myself very lucky.  I had a father who was an excellent role model and teachers like Lee to boot.  (No pun intended.)  As for Peggy, I had not seen her in years but would have recognized her anywhere. She gets my vote for one lady that the years have treated really well.  Glad you guys could come.

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