Teacher Left an Indelible Mark, Associates Say

Although Vincent Chalk lost his battle with AIDS, he triumphed by leaving an indelible mark on the lives of the deaf children he taught, on their parents and on his colleagues, those who loved him said Wednesday.

The 45-year-old teacher died in a Long Beach hospital Tuesday.

“My daughter Erica is 16 years old and a senior at University High, where she is also a cheerleader,” said her mother, Lynn Dixon Gold. “She is an example of what these deaf kids can do with quality teachers like Vince Chalk. Of course, it wasn’t all Vince, but as a liaison with the deaf and mainstream student programs, he helped Erica, who successfully mainstreamed through middle and high school programs.”

Erica said Wednesday that she felt bad about not having visited Chalk before his death.

But, she said, “I’m glad that Vince’s physical suffering is over. I’m glad he is in a better place now, where there is no pain.”

She said that she would drive other deaf students to a memorial service for Chalk that will begin today at 5 p.m. at Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach.

Sunshine Wirth, a 16-year-old sophomore in the hearing-impaired program at the Irvine high school, said she was “shocked and saddened” to learn of Chalk’s death. She had lost both “a teacher and a friend,” she said.

“The thing I will miss most is not having him to talk to because I felt like I could tell him anything,” Sunshine said.

Others were angry.

“He was taken from us,” said Denise Ron, an interpreter for the hearing-impaired who had worked with Chalk. “There are so few quality people in the world, and to have him taken away from us by this disease. . . .”

His colleagues and students were part of Chalk’s web of support in 1987 during his legal bid to remain at a teaching post in the hearing-impaired program. The program at University High is run through the Orange County Department of Education. Chalk’s lawsuit against the department resulted in a landmark court ruling protecting the job security of AIDS patients in government jobs.

“Although I did not know of Chalk personally, we did know of him from the court case” because of its significance to the gay community, said Carole Landess, interim director of Project Ahead in Long Beach, a private nonprofit agency that assists AIDS patients.

Chalk’s family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Project Ahead or to two other centers concerned with acquired immune deficiency syndrome--Padua House or Being Alive, both in Long Beach.

County schools Supt. Robert Peterson is the person who removed Chalk from his teaching post. He praised Chalk Wednesday as a good teacher.

“All of us who are aware of Vince Chalk’s excellent teaching ability regret his untimely departure,” Peterson said. “Our effort in going to court was to help chart a course through unknown territory at the time we learned of his condition. The danger posed by AIDS was still an uncertainty.”

County staff members spent part of the day Wednesday notifying former students of Chalk’s death and of the memorial service.

Chalk was known as a sensitive teacher with an upbeat personality. Those who knew him said he was reluctant to be in the limelight his legal case had attracted.

He had a knack for putting people at ease, they said. At formal meetings between school officials and parents, he would often defuse the tense atmosphere with his sense of humor.

Deborah Thomas, a speech pathologist for the county who had known Chalk since he first began working with the deaf more than 10 years ago, said many deaf students in the program are feeling the loss.

But he also said he loved teaching hearing-impaired children. “They really enjoy being mentally jousted with,” he said. “You have to be loose--relaxed and flexible in your teaching style. You may be teaching science, and something comes up and maybe you drop the lesson plan. . . .”

His enthusiasm was boundless. According to Dennis Davino, an interpreter and teacher at University High, Chalk was a rare combination of “good signer and good teacher.”

“I remember I was the first staff member to ever meet him when he began working with us,” Davino said. “On his first day of work, he had this big smile and he was real eager to get going. I brought him to the classroom, and he just went in. It was like he was stepping into a comfortable pair of shoes, like he had been there a very long time.”

Sunshine recalled one occasion in which she was having difficulty with a math problem.

“He came to me and said: ‘You can do anything you want to, and don’t let the deafness stop you. You need to put your mind to it, Sunshine.’ ”

Sunshine’s mother said his teaching abilities made him “one in a million,” and she agreed with Lynn Dixon Gold that it was easy for them to rally support for Chalk because he had a gift that “made our deaf children feel significant.”

“And that doesn’t happen very often,” Gold said.

Gold said she was prompted to help Chalk in the early stages of his legal battle after her daughter told her of a poignant moment in a government class.

The subject was the U.S. Constitution. “My daughter was confused by the word preamble. To her, it sounded like ‘before walking,’ and she started laughing in class. Vince came over and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ She told him how funny it was to have the Constitution start by talking about ‘before walking.’ “Not only did Vincent pick up on the humor, but he went over and shared it with some of the hearing students and staff,” Gold said.