Don Taylor made history come alive for his Clairton High School and Community College of Allegheny County students, lessons that have remained with them throughout their lives.
A group of his 1960s’ CHS alumni have decided to honor him in return by establishing an endowed scholarship fund at CCAC that will benefit two students, one from Clairton High School and another for a current community college student. The Don and Betty Lou Taylor Scholarship is nearly at the $10,000 level already, according to a CCAC fundraising officer, and donations have been coming in from far and wide quickly.
Ira Weis, a 1966 CHS grad and a well-known Pittsburgh lawyer and current Pittsburgh Public Schools solicitor, and three others — David Bartolomeo, Nancy Bekavac and Susan Unseld Fletcher — started the effort six weeks ago. They wanted to be sure that Taylor, who is 92 and in declining health, knew about the effort.
“He was an inspirational teacher for me,” Weis said, recalling his history class with Taylor during his CHS junior year in 1965. “I like history anyway, but he increased that interest of mine. And he had a very unique way of teaching. It was not the typical high school approach for those days.”
Taylor had a certain reading program in the summer, which Weis and others took. “It was a measure of the interest he generated. Those books were all college-level books. When I got to college, a lot of those books were on the reading list. He demanded a lot from his students, but he gave a lot. His whole life was about teaching and history. It is amazing how many students kept in touch with him.
“The word ‘unique’ is overly used, but there is only one of him. He is one of those teachers they make movies about, or you read about in articles.”
Learning about propaganda and how it affected history remains with Weis. “He taught the students the power of propaganda and repetition,” he said. “For example, he would keep repeating the number 917. He demonstrated that if you say something enough, people will remember it.” That 917 is still part of Taylor’s email address.
Weis said Taylor’s physical problems — he has leukemia — created an urgency to get the scholarship effort done. The goal is to raise $25,000.
The history teacher is himself a CHS alumnus, graduating in 1949, as is his wife, who graduated a few years after him. Weis said Taylor remained committed to the Clairton school district for many years, and he has kept in touch with many of his former students. In the Clairton tradition, he marched up Miller Avenue with the band to the stadium for Friday night football games for years. He has also been a faithful attendee of the Clairton High School Reunion picnic, an annual event held over Labor Day weekend that attracts hundreds of alumni back to the 1950s. By his count, he has spoken at 20 different CHS class reunions.
Taylor said he is surprised, impressed and flattered by the effort. The Elizabeth Township resident said, “I had a rather unique and fulfilling relationship with my students that transcends my hopes to give them a good education. I was considered a little bit hard. I get many, many thank yous, especially from those who went on to college themselves, telling me how well prepared they were. Our relationship didn’t cease as do most teachers and their students. They go their separate ways, and you go yours.
“That hasn’t been the case between my wonderful and devoted students and my feelings for them. I poured my heart out in those days, and if you were to talk to those students, I believe they would vouch that I had great compassion for them.”
A scholarship committee at Clairton will select the winner of that award once the fund is finalized and an application process is determined. The district is grateful for the effort.
“This is a great partnership that I’m looking forward to being a part of,” said Tamara Allen-Thomas, the district superintendent. “This is a great way to pay it forward through investing in the future by creating a scholarship opportunity that will help many of my scholars’ dreams become a reality.”
Taylor left his position at Clairton in 1967 and became one the 15 founding CCAC South professors. He retired from CCAC in 2011 after a 57-year career in teaching, and he recalled his efforts at reaching students by dressing up as historical figures, such as from the Old West, then in a Tribune-Review article.
“I want history to be interesting,” he said. Before each class he would glance at a personal commandment posted above his desk: “Thou shalt not bore.”
“Most people that teach want students to be knowledgeable about their subject, but I’m ambitious,” Taylor said. “I hope that when many go out the door that they not only know history and political science and government but say, ‘I enjoyed it,’ maybe for the first time.”
Kristina Zuccarelli, manager of scholarships and alumni affairs for the CCAC Education Foundation, has been impressed with the generosity of the donors to date as well as how far flung the donations have come from — Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Southern California – so far. The scholarship most likely will be in place to award for the 2024-25 academic year.
“It’s so interesting how far his students have gone and want to give back,” she said, noting that Bekavac, for example, was the president of Scripps College in Claremont, California, before retiring and becoming a consultant. “They have done so well for themselves and are donating so generously. We typically don’t see such large donations. It’s so wonderful that they are giving to a town where the need is so great.”
Regardless of the need, Taylor stressed that he believes Clairton students still have a fine school to attend and graduate from. He recalled that when the district closed its elementary schools and renovated the high school years back to combine all grades into one building, he lobbied the administration and school board to retain the distinctive columns that marked the entranceway. That happened and more.
“There is a sign over those columns that states, ‘Between these columns pass some of the finest men, women and children in America,’” he said. “I put the sign up. My name is under it. The idea is there is still a lot of good people there. The only way to see my sign is you have to have your head up. … I hope one of those young students will look up at that sign and say, ‘I am going to be one of those people.’”
The scholarship will help those students who chose to attend CCAC with their tuition and other expenses, which Taylor knows is greatly needed. And further, “This brings joy to an old man’s heart.”
Clairton High School alumni and friends can donate to the scholarship: Send a check, payable “CCAC Educational Foundation” with the “For” line indicating “Donald Taylor Scholarship,” and mail to: Scholarships, CCAC Educational Foundation, Byers Hall, Room102, 808 Ridge Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Credit card donations can be made online from the CCAC website or by calling Kristina Zuccarelli, manager of scholarships and alumni affairs, at 412-237-4649, or or donate by bank transfers, as a qualified retirement distribution or stock and wire transfers, by calling Zuccarelli at 412-237-4649 for further details.
Helen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Contact her at hfallon@unionprogress.com.