Eric Unsworth, longtime LCA history teacher, was one of the reasons that Dick Watts came to the school in 1976. He found Eric’s name on the faculty list in the informational packet that the school sent when he applied to teach math. He had known and liked Eric when they were both students at Wheaton College in Illinois. He thought, “Well, if Eric Unsworth is teaching there, LCA is probably an OK place.” His long tenure at the school confirms his hunch.
Dick has taught all levels of high school math. His favorite course is calculus. “It’s brand new to the students, so I can see them respond to something new and interesting. There’s such a nice, logical way that all the pieces fit together. One topic flows naturally from one to the next to the next.” No matter the level, Dick has been extra-ordinarily effective in getting mathematical principles across to his students. As Renee VanderBrug (97) said, “The rules of trig functions (SOHCAHTOA) will be forever ground into my mind, Mr. Watts!” Charlene McClymonds (95) loved math so much she chose it as her major in college only to discover that what she really enjoyed was how Mr. Watts taught it. Tim Zhou ’18 mentioned the same thing: “He was very good at explaining things very clearly.” Tim also noted his sense of humor, which many students saw each year as he offered a tissue box while handing back the first quiz of the term.
If they paid attention, the entire school knew of Dick’s dry wit. Once two colleagues collided, one on either side of a door. One man fell down. Dick saw it, and the next day, with no comment or even a look in his direction, walked past the other man’s desk wearing a hard hat. For decades students saw him wear the same navy blue tie day in and day out. He kept it in his school mailbox (which he was notorious among the staff for never emptying). Headmaster Mark Davis remembers coming upon Dick holding that tie in his hands. It was literally falling apart. To his astonishment, the next morning Dick was wearing the same tie, but it looked as good as new. When Mark asked him how, Dick replied, “Fifteen years ago, when the rule came down that we had to wear a tie in the classroom, I bought two identical ties. This is the replacement.”
Every year Dick and Athletic Director refinished the gym floor before basketball season started, a two-day job. Dick was known for being a lifeguard at the school pool during summers and for driving buses or vans on field trips and on daily trips to and from school. In that last role he had some harrowing experiences. In the days before cell phones, one morning the brakes on the van got worse and worse. He geared way down approaching each stop to avoid using the brakes as much as possible. His last stop was on Park Avenue in Arlington near the water tower. He stayed in first gear, but he soon realized that he would not be able to stop at the light at Mass. Ave. “There was no car already stopped. I turned right onto Mass. Ave. I didn’t wonder if the van was going to tip over, but it was a difficult turn.” A couple of blocks down, no cars were coming, so Dick was able to make a sharp left onto Lowell Street, and he got all the kids safely to school. Only one student even noticed that they’d taken a different route, much less that it had been a precarious trip!
As he had taught for 49 years, Dick apparently has found that LCA is indeed an OK place. It was undoubtedly a better place for his amiable, conscientious contributions to it.
WATTS SENIOR MATH AWARD
This award was established in 2016 in honor of Richard “Dick” Watts in recognition of his 40 years of dedicated service as a teacher of math and mentor at LCA. The award is given annually to a senior for outstanding work in math.
