AIDS-Stricken Teacher Remembered as a Hero : Memorial: Students, family and friends pay tribute to Vincent L. Chalk, who fought to stay in the classroom.

Vincent L. Chalk, the Irvine teacher with AIDS whose battle to stay in the classroom established rights for other patients, was remembered Thursday as a hero to his students and an inspiration to family and friends who paid a final tribute to his life in an emotional memorial service.

More than 200 people packed the Stricklin/Snively Mortuary, where many personally delivered tearful eulogies of the University High School teacher of the hearing impaired who died Tuesday of complications from AIDS.

“He taught great things to all the children in high school,” said University High graduate Antonio Daverso, 20, who delivered a eulogy in sign language and was interpreted for the gathering. “We all miss him and love him so much. We have many, many memories. No matter what, he was there for us. We always looked to him.”

Donny Jacobs, 15, a freshman at University High, lingered long after the services had ended, helping to comfort fellow students who had gathered near the front of the chapel to admire a photographic display of their teacher. The photographs were placed against a backdrop of floral arrangements near the chapel’s small wooden podium.

During the memorial, Jacobs described Chalk as a mentor who helped others overcome their handicaps.

“I’m glad to have known him,” Jacobs said. “Vince was a good teacher. I can’t express how much he meant to University High School.”

Public attention was called to Chalk’s life and career in 1987 during a legal battle to keep his position as a teacher in the hearing impaired program. Chalk’s lawsuit against the Orange County Department of Education resulted in a landmark court ruling protecting the job security of AIDS patients in government jobs.

“Vince kept us all aware that we were there to learn, even as adults,” said Carol Rowland, head of University High’s program for the hearing impaired. “The strength that he had--he always followed through. He was always there for the kids.”

In her brief remarks during the service, Rowland recalled a time at a meeting of parents and teachers when she became upset and walked into an empty hallway with tears in her eyes.

“He came up behind me, turned me around, put his hands on my shoulders and said: ‘Stop that! Stop that! Now, go in there and show ‘em your stuff.’ ”

Rowland said she believed that the students were managing to deal with the loss. “The kids are good. They are OK,” she said.

Others who took their turns at the podium included Chalk’s sisters, Cindy Haag and Jodi Venable, who presented a poem they believed best described their brother’s death.

“Death is nothing at all,” Haag read. “I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I. You are you. Whatever we were to each other, we are still.”

The service ended with a dramatic sign interpretation of Bette Midler’s song, “Wind Beneath My Wings.”