“I’ll never forget Fr. Steinhauser was the principal at the time, and I interviewed with him, and he said, ‘Well, we’ll take a chance with you.’” So began the teaching career of Mr. Gene Eckert. The rest is, as they say, history. Eckert, a ’62 Trinity graduate, has been teaching world civilization for the past 46 years and has never imagined working anywhere else but his alma mater. “When I was in college working on my degree, I just always wanted to come back here,” Eckert said. He recalls a day years after he was hired when then-principal Fr. Thomas Duerr called him into the office to tell him about a grade school that was looking for a principal. Duerr asked Eckert if he would be interested in applying for the position. “’Father,’ I said, ‘are you trying to get rid of me?’ He said no, and I said, ‘Father, I’m content, and I’m happy to be where I am.’” Having been on the staff since the mid-60s, Eckert remembers the days when the teaching positions were staffed primarily by priests, with whom he had a great relationship. He said, “When I came back in ’66, there were, I’d say, about 30 priests on the faculty. There was a great deal of camaraderie between the priests and the lay teachers. We’d go over to Seneca Park and play flag football after school. I got along very well with them.” Eckert is no longer playing football with his colleagues, but he has maintained a good relationship with the staff and is thought of highly by his teaching peers. “I did part of my student teaching with Gene Eckert 13 years ago,” said Mr. Joe Henning, who teaches and serves as co-director of students. “I remember at the time wondering if I would ever be as good a teacher as him. I’m still waiting to get there.” Trinity teacher Mr. John Kahl ’69 echoed a similar sentiment, saying, “Mr. Eckert is one of the few (current) teachers who was here while I was a student. He is a very likeable type of guy and has a genuine concern for his students. He is a great mentor to many.” When asked about the difference between teaching at Trinity and being a student here, Eckert said, “I didn’t notice any difference, except that I went from the front of the desk to the back of the desk.” He went on to tell of a day when the cafeteria manager, Mrs. (Catherine) Fuchs, mistook him for a student while he was headed into the teachers’ lounge. “She said, ‘Young man, that door is just for the faculty. You can’t come in.’ I let her know who I was, and she let me in. I look back on that, and it was kind of comical.” Having taught at Trinity for so long, Eckert said he couldn’t pick out a particular year or event that sticks out, though he did mention with a smile a near flood that threatened a long-ago homecoming celebration he coordinated. He added that seeing former students go on to be successful in their lives has been “very rewarding.” “The interaction with the students (has been my favorite part). I have just thoroughly enjoyed that,” he said. “This last year has really been, for me, a good year. I’ve got very good classes, and I enjoy being in the classroom. There’s a pretty good chemistry, and that interaction with the students is something that has kept me around for years and years and years.” Students past and present all have high praise for Eckert as a teacher. “He always keeps the class really interested in what we’re talking about,” said freshman Luke Archer, a current student of Eckert’s. “He’s always running around and shouting and making sure that everyone is awake.” “To this day I still know some of the stuff he taught us,” senior and former Eckert student Erik Eaton said. “His style of teaching—having us read it and then talking to us about it—that helped me a lot.” At the end of this school year, Eckert will retire from Trinity, and although he has been asked many times by colleagues and friends, he says he won’t really know how he feels about retiring until August. “School’s out in June and you’ve got several months off, and then you go back,” he said. “I think it’ll hit me then.” Asked if he will miss teaching, Eckert responded with a simple, “Probably.” “If it’s his time, if he feels like he’s done everything that he wants to do, you have to respect that,” Eaton said, “but I know that everyone at Trinity will miss him a lot because he’s brought a lot of good to the school. He’s one of the iconic teachers here, and he will be greatly missed.” “I think everyone will miss him a lot,” Archer said. “I will miss him.” Though he is retiring from teaching, Eckert intends to keep active. Among other things, he plans on volunteering at St. Joe’s Children’s Home, an organization with which he has worked for many years, and catching up some household chores. “I think I can keep busy,” he said with a chuckle and a grin. “My wife can find something for me to do.” A consummate teacher, Eckert has one last bit of wisdom for the students of Trinity. “I’ve been telling the young men now that they are gifted with intelligence. They can, in many ways, write their own tickets, and they are very fortunate to be where they are at this point in their lives. (I would tell them) to take advantage of all the opportunities they have available to them. They’ll never regret it.” Eckert will leave behind a legacy of excellence in the classroom, devotion to the ideas of Christian leadership and service, and a strong sense of compassion for all those whose lives he has touched as a teacher, colleague or friend. When asked how Eckert has impacted the Trinity community, school President Dr. Rob Mullen said, “Mr. Eckert joins the long line of Trinity teachers who by his dedication and skillful teaching has enriched the lives of thousands of students.” Perhaps Eckert himself summed up his tenure best by saying, “I’ve had some days that I’ve gone into class where things just have not gone well, but I have had many, many more days of rewarding experiences in the classroom. It’s been a joy.”