Jeffrey Gurski

Retired school teacher.

I graduated from UVA in 1972. Had been an army cadet, but just missed Viet Nam, so I seized the opportunity to continue on to grad school to get a master's degree when the army let us know they had enough men already. Taught in Va. Beach for seven years where I served as an English department chairman for most of that period.
We moved back to Fairfax County in 1980. Taught in FCPS middle and high schools until retirement in 2005. Was a Virginia Writing Project Fellow, a Virginia Reading Project Fellow at George Mason, and even a Teacher of the Year nominee! It was a busy but rewarding career.

I remember standing across the Potomac on the top of the hill in Villa Mae as a high school student watching DC glow orange from the fires of the riots that racked the city. I wondered if the world would ever be the same again. Our turbulent school years included assassinations of great men, war in Asia, and the threat of nuclear annialation, but somehow we all continued on with great hope we could graduate and somehow make the world a better place for all. I suppose the current crop of students still feel a variation of the same anxiety and hope we felt as we looked to the future.

Occasionally. My wife (Nola Charnock, FHHS 1969) and I don't live far away from Alex. We live about halfway between Tyson's Corner and Leesburg, VA, just off of the Potomac River, not far from Great Falls.

I email my old buddy Stan Boren, and I run into Tim Woodward pretty regularly at antique car shows. I have run into other former classmates on occasion.

No real surprises. Nola and I have been married for 43 wonderful years and both enjoy retirement. We travelled a great deal after we first retired, but Nola now has health issues that keep us closer to home. I still enjoy messing with cars and belong to several automotive-related clubs. I'm a regular at Carlisle and Hershey car shows with a group of my car buff buddies who have become like family.

Too many good memories to list. I remember regularly skipping MYF meetings at the church to drive into Washington for mischief instead with Paul Hughes. We'd disconnect the odometer in Paul's VW in the church parking lot on Fort Hunt Road before heading into DC and then reconnect it in the same church parking lot right before coming home because Paul's dad always checked the mileage on the car when Paul used it. Paul always carried a small wrench just for such stealthy runs into the city--a clever guy! Lotsa laughs. Lots of sock hops, dances, parties, and practical jokes made high school fun.

I also remember enjoying the FHHS sports car club where we students ran TSD rallys around Fairfax county. My friend Jamie Duley was a great navigator because she was a computational wizard using the Larry Reid's Rally Tables I kept handy in my car's glove compartment. We always finished well and on course in rallys. I still have trophies! I remember Jim Haskell proudly roaring up into my driveway in a clapped-out Triumph TR2 he bought at a police auction. It was ugly and loud, but a great bargain!

I remember Stan Boren, Bruce Banias, Bob Green, Jerry Pfifer, several of other friends, and I used to belong to DeMolay together. Ask them about the CO2 fire extinguisher incident at Woodlawn Chapter's pool table.

There was nothing like putting down the top on the Mustang on a starry evening, cranking up the Beach Boys on WPGC, and ending up meeting fellow Federals for a Mighty Moe at Hot Shoppes!

I sure would have studied more! I loved art classes and surely never thought I'd end up as a English and history teacher.