THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512180031
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Bryan Williams gave a former teacher a Christmas gift that television viewers also may enjoy: A heartfelt thanks for always being there.
Bryan, his mother, Valerie, and his big brother, Bobby Jr., were flown to New York last week to appear in the ``Rolonda'' talk show's episode about reuniting with someone you miss.
For Bryan, a sixth-grader at Churchland Middle School, that someone was Debby Markovitch, his third- and fourth-grade teacher. She left her job at Churchland Academy Elementary this past summer and moved to Ohio with her husband.
Markovitch, now teaching in a Columbus suburb, also was flown in for the show, which will air at 11 a.m. Christmas Day on WAVY-TV Channel 10.
Producers told her a former student missed her dearly and wanted to see her. But they didn't say who it was. When she saw 11-year-old Bryan on stage - dimples, diamond stud earring and all - she said she practically burst into tears.
He was just the cutest, sweetest little thing anyone would ever want to teach, she said Friday, while visiting former colleagues at the school.
``When you think of your daily job as a teacher, you sometimes don't even think about how you're affecting a child. You just do what you do naturally,'' she said.
Bryan's mom, a budget analyst sent home last month during the federal government's shutdown, called the talk show one morning in response to a promo about schoolhouse teasing.
When she mailed in follow-up information, including a family photo, producers were struck by the handsome faces - and her brief note explaining how Markovitch would stick up for Bryan.
Then, they spoke with Bryan, who filled them in on how the teacher wrote him letters, even after he was no longer her student; tutored him after school; gave him hugs; always asked how he was doing; and turned him on to math in the third grade with ``cubes and neat designs we could make.''
After that mouthful, producers invited the family to appear in the Christmas segment, instead.
``It's just like we were good friends,'' Bryan said Saturday. ``Not like a teacher, but friends friends. I missed her, and I was happy to see her.''
As a fifth-grader at the academy last school year, he didn't mind hanging around to wash her chalkboards or help her with other chores. Bryan - a church choir member, honor roll student and saxophone player - said he wasn't the teacher's pet. But he wouldn't care if someone called him that.
``Mrs. Markovitch encouraged me to ignore ignorance,'' he said.
His mother appreciated her efforts in the classroom. ``She reinforced things that I talked about at home,'' Valerie Williams said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER, The Virginian-Pilot
Bryan Williams and his mother, Valerie, were flown to New York last
week to appear in the Christmas Day show of ``Rolonda.''
by CNB