Ohio Author Says Teachers Are The True Heroes

April 11, 2013

By Diane Ryder
“Where have all the heroes gone?” author Randy Overbeck asked a group of local retirees last week. “I heard that recently on a talk radio show, where the host was ranting to the audience.”
Overbeck, a retired educator from Lebanon, Ohio, was the featured speaker at a luncheon meeting of the Geauga County Retired Teachers’ Association, held April 2 at Grand River Cellars Vineyards in Madison.
He was there to promote his first novel, “Leave No Child Behind,” a thriller about terrorists holding 500 high school students and teachers hostage at a fictional high school in Northeast Ohio.
According to the author, today’s culture in America has done away with traditional heroes in its fascination with drugs, sex and the dark side of life.
“There’s no one to look up to anymore,” Overbeck said. “Society tells young people who their heroes are. They are sports heroes, people in power and beautiful people such as models and Hollywood stars.”
He added, “There’s an epidemic of pre-teen girls who think Paris Hilton is their hero because she’s rich, famous and beautiful.”
But the true heroes, he said, are everyday people who remain in the background and, with no fanfare, quietly change the lives of others.
“There are hundreds of thousands of heroic teachers, but we never hear about them because they don’t like to blow their own horns,” said Overbeck.
Overbeck told about three heroic teachers who put their lives on the line to shield students from danger, or donated a kidney to save a student’s life or avoided a possible disaster by hugging a gunman who was threatening students.
He spoke of Columbine teacher Dave Sanders, who sacrificed his own life to save 125 students, Ron Clark who has devoted his life to improving inner city schools in New York and other educators who deserve recognition as true heroes.
Overbeck’s publisher, Heroic Teacher Press, is on a mission to raise the status of American teachers by telling the stories of those who have helped shape young lives.
“We’re trying to get the media to pick these stories up,” he said.
The company has also published his novel, which centers on everyday teachers who become heroic during the fictional crisis of terrorists taking their high school hostage.
“Non-fiction is about reality, but fiction is about truth,” Overbeck said.
The publisher sends him to speak to civic groups around the country to promote their hero project at the same time he is selling his book.
“I usually speak to groups such as Rotary and Kiwanis, but talking to this room full of teacher heroes is like preaching to the choir,” he said, adding his publisher is always looking for more true teacher/hero stories to add to their project.
Overbeck spent his 39-year career as a teacher, administrator and college professor. After he retired less than two years ago, he wrote his first novel, which has received numerous awards.
“It’s a real page turner,” said Jean Paine, who served as hostess for the event.
Overbeck has completed a second novel, “Dangerous Lessons,” a mystery about a rogue drug that kills students in a middle school. Both books are available at bookstores and on the Internet, he said.
The local retired teachers lined up for Overbeck to autograph their copies of “Leave No Child Behind” at the end of the speech.
“I thought he was very down to earth and got down to the core of everything,” said Marge Cook of South Russell, who taught second grade in the West Geauga school district.
“I hadn’t heard very much about those teacher heroes, except what had been in the newspaper,” she said, adding she was looking forward to reading the novel.
Retired teacher Gene Fenstermaker from Newbury Township said he enjoyed hearing about the teacher heroes who have made a major difference in the lives of students.
“I thought it was something that retired teachers appreciate hearing,” said Fenstermaker.