WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 31, 2018 15
KIDS & EDUCATION
Legendary Molloy teachers announce their retirement
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
A pair of distinguished teachers
who served Archbishop Molloy
High School in Briarwood
for half a century are fi nally walking
away from the profession to enjoy their
retirement.
John Diorio, who taught government
and economics for 59 years, and Mary
Pat Gannon, an English teacher for
the past 44 years, both recently announced
that they plan to retire when
the current school year ends in June.
As iconic fi gures in Molloy history,
they have taught thousands of students
and multiple generations of families in
some cases; seen the school transition
from a boys-only school to co-ed; and
experienced the evolution of technology
in the classroom fi rst hand.
When the Ridgewood Times spoke
to both of them on May 29, however,
Diorio and Gannon both expressed a
passion for education that could carry
them for even longer.
“It’s bittersweet because I think I can
still walk into a room and teach at the
drop of a hat,” Gannon said. “I’ll fi nd it
very diffi cult to shut off that part of my
brain.”
Gannon’s love for literature dates
back to when she read all of the children’s
books in the library and her
mother had to plead with the librarians
to let her start reading the adult
books, she said. Even though she went
on to study biology and chemistry in
college at first, Gannon eventually
realized that English was her calling
and changed her major. Especially
when her courses required her to read
more books, she felt like she had “died
and gone to heaven,” she said.
When she began her tenure at
Molloy in 1974, Gannon was one of
only a handful of women on the faculty
at the time. During her career, she
taught English courses at every level,
infl uenced several students who went
on to become successful writers and
authors and was one of the fi rst teachers
to adopt the smartboard as a tool in
her classroom.
While that use of technology allowed
her to better connect with a generation
of students who became increasingly
visual in their learning style, Gannon
said, her unique experiences also
taught her much about herself.
“I have learned that I’m still learning,”
Gannon said. “That kids bring to
a piece of literature a new vision, and
they make me reevaluate it and I see
it with fresh eyes because of how they
look at it. No piece of literature is ever
static; it depends on the eyes and ears
of kids reading it.”
For Diorio, his passion for government
also predates his teaching
career when he was a staff member
for then-Congressman John Lindsay.
Diorio said the staff was instrumental
in getting Lindsay to run for New York
City mayor, and Diorio later became
the mayor’s legislative assistant.
He began his tenure at Molloy
teaching history in 1960, but found
his way back to politics by 1968 when
he was instrumental in creating the
American Government course for the
senior curriculum. He then moderated
the Political Science Club from 1968 to
1995 as his courses on government,
economics and constitutional law grew
in popularity.
Over the course of his career he
used his political connections to invite
guest speakers to his classes such as
former Governor Mario Cuomo and
former Congressman Joseph Addabbo
Sr. — the respective fathers of current
Governor Andrew Cuomo and current
state Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., both
of whom wound up in Diorio’s classes.
But, as Diorio recalled, he considers
his years of teaching and mentoring
young minds as his defining
achievement.
“What’s very impressive here is the
average student who’s living a very
complete, average life,” Diorio said.
“To me, that’s successful. Somebody
getting married, having kids, working
and helping their family, that’s
what we’re about. I’ve been fortunate
because these boys and girls are so
fabulous.”
Diorio added that making his
students aware of who their political
representatives are locally and
nationally — and in turn seeing
Photo by Joseph Sommo
those students share that information
with their parents who were
also unaware — is one of the most
rewarding things he experienced
during his career.
When he fi nished teaching his last
class on May 23 and walked out of the
room, Diorio said he was overcome
with emotions as the faculty and
students surprised him by lining the
hallway and applauding while congratulating
him. He tried to rush to
the elevator aft er giving a few waves
and smiles, but he couldn’t avoid being
captured on a video that was posted to
the Molloy page on Facebook.
Unlike Gannon, Diorio preferred to
use the chalkboard until his last class
and didn’t adopt all of the new technology.
Naturally, he’s not on Facebook,
but when someone showed him the
video’s 50,000 views and thousands
of comments, he was amazed.
“Thousands of people telling me I’m
their favorite teacher, the best teacher
they ever had, the best course they ever
had, I helped them become lawyers,
I helped them become secret service
agents,” Diorio said. “Maybe I did, but
that was my job basically. I didn’t take
it as anything special. That, to me, is
one of my greatest accomplishments.”
While Diorio and Gannon will fi nd
it hard to leave behind the enormous
legacies they created at Molloy, they
both said they have no immediate
plans for their retirement other than
some much deserved relaxation.
John Diorio and Mary Pat Gannon inside the lobby of Archbishop Molloy High School on May 30.
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