You know the one.

He taught high school English, bringing literature to life and captivating a young mind.

She taught biology or math or Latin or fourth-grade everything, and you never forgot her.

Or maybe she taught kindergarten, where the most important lessons aren't academic, but social -- when the Golden Rule trumps reading, writing and arithmetic.

She might even have been an assistant, not the main teacher.

Our daughter Elizabeth Riddick is back at her school now, but its beloved Mrs. Potok isn't. Elizabeth misses her, and so do I.

Mrs. Potok, a teacher for 50 years, more than assisted Mrs. Clark, the kindergarten leader at St. Timothy's School since 1990.

Besides teaching 5- and 6-year-olds to read each day, she also helped unload and uplift dozens of children in the school's crowded car-pool lines.

Mrs. Potok always had a smile for us parents, an embrace for our kids, and a firm but loving manner.

"I always gave everybody a hug," she said. "It doesn't matter what the situation is. I think a child responds to someone who is warm."

Most of us were lucky enough to have a teacher or two like that.

For my wife, Laura, it was her seventh-grade language arts teacher at West Millbrook Junior High, Mrs. Mathis. And later her Enloe High English teacher, Mr. Holt.

For me, it was my clever fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Holmes, and then Mr. Hawkins, my electrifying high school English teacher.

It's easy to forget that our teachers have families -- and favorite teachers -- of their own.

For Mrs. Potok, who comes from a family of teachers and lawyers, it was another Miss Clark who taught her third and fourth grades in Pennsylvania.

"She was warm and friendly and very helpful if you were having trouble," Mrs. Potok said. "She made sure you got it before you moved on. Maybe I learned from her."

Mrs. Potok says she taught school for so long because she loves being around children.

"It keeps you young," she said with a chuckle. "And you can learn a lot from young people."

Having retired at age 78, Marietta Tiffany Potok is a student again. The widowed mother of two engineers is taking Encore Center classes at N.C. State University.

"I'm not going to be sitting here twiddling my thumbs," she said. "Once you stop learning, you might as well be dead."

There's a life lesson for us all.

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