File:Teacher Paul Cook.jpg

Summary

In 1990 Paul Cook retired after teaching science, mainly biology, at BHS for thirty years. Although his focus was science, Paul had a natural curiosity about virtually everything and he was as much a student of life as he was a teacher of science. The members of the Social Studies department referred to Paul as "Mr. Wizard" not only for his knowledge of science but also for his vast knowledge of how things worked in general and his ability to explain this knowledge in simple terms so that even liberal arts majors like ourselves could understand. In my eleven years of working with Paul I never saw him get angry and his patience and soft-spoken manner made him an asset in the classroom, especially when teaching students who could not see any connection between science and their own personal lives. He had a bit of West Virginia wild streak in him, something I discovered when Paul and fellow science teacher Ken Howard began to brew their own beer. They named it "Co-Ho" beer and whenever the faculty had a Christmas party where mystery gifts were exchanged, their beer was always a desired item. Paul and Ken drove together to BHS and it was rumored that on Friday's they had a cooler in the trunk where an ice-cold CoHo awaited them for their happy hour after school

Courtesy of Jon Evans