Our school days may be a distant memory, but everyone can remember having that one strict teacher who really made you work for your grades. As a student, you may have written off the teacher as mean or tough, but perhaps they really were teaching us valuable lessons.
Who can ever forget this teacher who taught her students the importance of giving back to the community, or Ms. Bour from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who gave her students a lesson they would not find in any of their textbooks?
Well, the students of St. Francis High School near Los Angeles all thought they knew everything about their "tough" math teacher, Jim O'Connor, but they found out the Vietnam veteran had a sweet alter ego.
The students were surprised to find out O'Connor is a "TLC Volunteer" at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he has spent several days a week for the past 20 years cuddling sick babies. Around the hospital, he's even gained the nickname: the baby whisperer. O'Connor, who is not married and doesn’t have kids of his own, found comfort in being around the sick babies and caring for them. He says he is drawn to the babies who don't have frequent visitors; some parents can't visit as often because they live far away or have to work. That's when O'Connor steps in.
"Everybody thinks he's being really mean" until they get used to his teaching style, senior Pat McGoldrick told the Los Angeles Times.
The students were surprised to discover their stern teacher's softer side. It seems these sick babies — even when they're crying — can turn the toughest guy to mush.
"No matter how sick they are, no matter how devastated, he's just so caring, he brings such a warmth and peace," said Jeri Fonacier, a nurse in a general medical surgery unit on the fifth floor.
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