Teaching from the Heart and Soul: The Robert F. Panara Story

Return to Kendall Green

91 Return to Kendall Green Upon arriving in Washington, Bob and Shirley drove to Doc’s big “House #7” on Faculty Row on Gallaudet’s campus, the first floor of which he shared with his chronically ill mother. Francis Higgins, another Gallaudet professor, lived with his family on the second floor. Bob and Shirley moved into a two-room apartment on the third floor. Bob and Shirley had their daily meals with the other faculty and staff who had no kitchen facilities . It was a full house, but one that made them very happy. As an instructor at Gallaudet College, Bob began teaching English. The Buff and Blue proclaimed him to be “one of the brilliant young men in the Class of ’45.”1 Shirley also found employment as a part-time library assistant and worked for a while as a typist and proofreader for the American Annals of the Deaf. When she became a physical education instructor for women at Gallaudet, coaching both the women’s bowling and basketball teams, everyone quickly learned that she had as much fighting spirit as her husband. While coaching the varsity women’s basketball team, the “Gallaudet Co-Ednas,” Shirley learned that the girls were not allowed to practice in Ole Jim in the afternoon because the men’s team had priority. The 92 Teaching from the Heart and Soul women’s team was forced to practice in the late evening hours, after completing their homework, but this only made Shirley and her team all the more determined to play well. They went on to post a winning season with eight wins and two losses, facing such tough opponents as the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and American University. As Shirley reminisced, “This achievement was made doubly sweet in view of the fact that the men’s varsity finished the season with only four wins against 11 losses.”2 Shirley won many trophies in individual and team bowling , including one for scoring 267 from scratch (no handicap ). With encouragement from Milton Friedman, a sports leader in Washington, D.C., she also helped to establish the Eastern Deaf Women’s Bowling Association and served as its first president. Those early years at Gallaudet were busy, all the more so when Shirley learned she was pregnant. On July 21, 1951, she gave birth to a son, John, named for Bob’s father , who was delighted, and even more so that John’s middle name was Edward, for Shirley’s father as well as for Grandpa John’s brother and best friend. Shirley had stopped coaching when she became pregnant. Given that Bob and Shirley had both been deafened by illness, it was no surprise when John proved to be hearing. The infant John learned quickly about Bob’s baseball enthusiasm. One day in late September 1951 his father was holding him while watching the telecast of the Giants’ one-game playoff with the Dodgers. When Bob saw Bobby Thompson’s historic home run clinch the game for the New York Giants, he tossed the baby in the air, but luckily caught Johnny coming down as he let out a “shout heard around the world!” Return to Kendall Green 93 Bob reacquainted himself with old friends, including President Percival Hall, now retired but still living on campus in the “Old White House” on the hill. Hall was the president who had helped Bob turn around when he lost direction in his preparatory year. Hall had lost much of his vision to age, but the gentle old man nevertheless enjoyed walking down to the snack bar in Ole Jim to chat with the students. After spending many afternoons listening to Hall’s anecdotes, Bob wrote a poetic tribute titled “To Percival Hall, Our Mentor,” comparing him to the aged Ulysses: Though you are left to play a lonely role Where all your days are spent in reverie Like one returned from some long Odyssey, Still must we marvel at your strength of soul Which drew its inspiration from an age When Kendall Green was in its infancy And Lux, such as we know it now to be, Was only for the dreamer to presage. Yet dream you did—and out of it ensued A life of high devotion to an aim Which swept the fancy of the multitude And brought our Alma Mater such acclaim That now, when all your deeds have been reviewed...