In many places and in many ways, John will be missed.

I met John through our work for NCTE: he was serving as TYCA Chair, and I was serving as Chair of the College Section, and together we served on the NCTE Executive Committee. New to the committee, I could always count on John for a smile and an encouraging word. As is so often the case, we got to know each other a little during that time, and what stayed with me was John's commitment to his students. He spoke about them; he framed his remarks in terms of his interactions with them; he brought their insights about literacy to us so that we could see both how and why--through their eyes--literacy was  changing.

A few years later, we served together as officers of the Conference on College Compositon and Communication, and again--as John delivered his multimedia Chair's Address, as he brought people together in small groups to consider the issues then defining the organization, and as he helped us choose a really good wine to drink with dinner--he adeptly wove together the personal and the professional.

I've always looked to my seniors--which term I mean in the most respectful way--to see what might be next. John modeled the best in this regard. Asked by Patti Stock to serve on the NCTE Resolutions Committee, he quickly said yes. Thinking about how to stay current as a teacher, he began a blog--and with that act, also met an entirely new circle of colleagues. Interested in how assessment practice at DeAnza might be improved, he initiated a portfolio assessment project that is ingenious in its ability to connect program standards and classroom innovation.

Although John is gone, John's gifts live on--in his students, his colleagues and friends, his family, and the professional organizations that so defined his life.

kathleen blake yancey