William Pothier

00:02 Hi, I'm Gabriel Harrington and I'm here.

00:05 With Bill Pothier and I live in West Townsend, Massachusetts.

00:14 Alright, first question. Can you tell me about where you grew up? What was it like?

00:20 So I came from another country. I was born in Munich, Germany and the people, the nice people who came to adopt me, I was about four or four and a half years old at the time. And they found me in an orphanage outside of Munich. And I lived in foster homes like you hear many kids. So they had their own way of trying to help out children. And you have to understand this is after World War II ended in 1945. I was born in 1953, but the country was destroyed as a result of the war. So everyone was poor. And what I had learned was my mother and her entire family were very poor and one were mouth to feed, which is too much. But there's the essence of why and how I ended up in America.

01:19 What was your experience like while in the orphanage?

01:23 Well, when it comes to experiences, I mean the most important thing everyone does every day is find something to eat. Right. And in the orphanage it was provided? Yes, just like in the movies, there's a long line of tables and a bunch of kids and you just went and got your, they handed to you and then you sit down. But I will just tell you that one day another kid that I didn't know came and sat like you're sitting across from me, puts down his tray and you know, I keep eating, I'm not really talking, I get a few friends, but I, I just make sure I'm eating. So I'm ready to go where they're going to send me after. And this new kid, which is, he was bigger than me, he reached right over and grabbed the roll off my, off of my tray and getting ready to eat it. And I remember I speak at that time only German. In fact, ask me if I still speak German.

02:26 Do you still speak German?

02:28 Ein kleinen Bischenbitte. So just a little bit. Thank you. Some words and phrases are still there. So anyways, this kid, I said, give me back my role all in German, which I can't do right now. And in Germany he said, I'm not giving you that role back. And then I stood up and I said it more loudly and pointed at him and he stood up and said, I'll give you this roll back. And I'm not proud to say, but you had to survive in those days. I knew that I needed that roll back because the portions weren't huge as it Is. So I simply did the only thing came to mind. And I punched him in the nose. And he sat down pretty crooked, hurting. I reached over, grabbed my roll back. I said, don't touch my roll. And no one ever did again. But I remember the skinny kids. Their legs were like this, their arms, they weren't eating much. I now know why people were stealing their food and they didn't feel like they could fight back. So I was blessed that I was brought up. My mother gave me up for adoption about one and a half, two years old. But even in that time, my wife tells me that a lot of people, including my mother, must have loved me and given me the internal strength to do what it would take to survive. And I'll just tell you this last story if I may. Many days when I was in foster homes, there was no food at all. They give you a slice of bread and some water and you know, you get hungry, right? So one thing I would do is I'd find the salt and I'd pour a little pile of salt and I would just sit here for about an hour and put salt on my tongue because it's. There's a taste to it, right? And yes, no one beat me, no one did terrible things to me, but they ignored me and they didn't care if I was hungry. I was hungry all the time. So it was pretty good when I finally got adopted because I ate anything I wanted. But I'm going on too long. I hope that helped.

04:50 What did you think your life would be like when you were older? Has your life turned out differently than you imagined?

04:57 Well, you know, at about five years old, when the adoption process all finished, I never thought about the future as a little kid. And, you know, that's probably not that different from many kids, but I just thought about tomorrow, you know. But I wasn't a scared little boy. I was curious. And I remember, you know, playing in the fields nearby. And I actually was playing in a place that I thought was really cool because we'd dive in and come out and look over the edge and pretend to see our friends because every kid that lived on that street was an orphan. I didn't know that. I just thought there were kids that moved in and every once in a while the kid would disappear because he became adopted. And you don't think of that. But these holes we played in, turns out they were bomb blast craters left over from World War II. You know, I didn't look at them fearfully. It was just a place to play. So once I got older. You could have asked me even. So, when did you think you wanted to become a teacher? I hated school. I hated school. I had maybe two or three teachers I respected. Can I go in this direction? Why did I hate school so much? When I got to the States, a lot of kids didn't know what hunger was. They didn't know what want was. They only knew, what if I could steal it from you and have fun with it and get everyone to point fingers at you? Well, that's my best part of my day for some people. I remember coming to a new school when I was in the fourth grade and as my life is developing and a kid came and swept the hat off my head. I'm waiting with my books for the doors to open. The buses had unloaded, just minding my own business, and it rips off my hat. And they go to play keep away. And in the orphanage, if someone steals your hat, you get cold. If they steal your shoes, you're gonna have a hard time walking outside. When it's snow out, you immediately get survival instinct. And Maya said, I need my hat back. So, of course, I chased him to get the hat. And they had a lot of fun. They're laughing. Other kids are laughing. And then I stopped because I was smart enough kid. And I said to myself, okay, I just figured out the pattern they're using to throw the hat around. So all I did was pretend to go there. But I'm going to come right over here because I know that's where the hat's going. And when I did that and I got to this kid, I grabbed him with his shirt like this because he just got the hat. He didn't expect me to be there. And I went like this. And I said, give me my hat back or I'm going to punch you in the nose. The kids go, Then all that starts. He won't. I said, I will punch you in the nose if you throw my head. And bigger kid than me. And he goes, like, in his head. I could read it. He won't. Nah, he won't. See. He didn't know I grew up in an orphanage, that we're not all bad kids, but we stick up for ourselves and each other or things get pretty bad. So he threw the hat, or he tried. The moment he went back to release, bang, down he went like this. If you ever hit the nose, it hurts. I took the hat. I said, this is my hat. The very next thing that I felt was this. A teacher grabbing me and dragging me to the Principal. Clearly the same teacher was standing there watching it all happen and never got it and didn't start their conversation. So I get dragged to the principal. I got a detention. And then I was labeled as a what? By all the teachers, all the kids, and the principal. How about a troublemaker? We got a troublemaker here. So in those days, they put you down at the boiler room. That's where the dumbest kids are in their minds. The troublemakers put them outside the boiler room in whatever kind of room, and we throw them some books and paper and a teacher who could care less about being there. And that's how I started my schooling. We're still worried. Got around that I punched out this big kid. What do you think the other big kids are going, I can fight him. Not yet, Harry. You can fight him. You'll beat him. That was my life. Every other day, some kid goes, I'm fighting you. I said, I don't want to fight you. Well, I'm going to fight you. And then I wouldn't do it in school. Then after school, of course. Crowd shows up. Look, I was a wiry kid, and I had to survive in Yards Village, so I knew how to. And I didn't start a single fight of all the ones that happened that year. But I won every one of them. And then they wished they hadn't even come to me. That didn't make me a lot of friends. And the friends I did have, they were nasty guys. All right, So I tell you all this. That school stunk. I said, no. Teachers came to save me. I mean, this country, I knew, it was all on me. And trust me, I did really poorly. So poorly that year. That was fourth grade. I was pulled out to the principal's office so many times because of the fight from yesterday. Yeah, that Pothier kid was there. And then I get another detention. It was so bad that I failed the fourth grade because I wasn't in class enough to learn what I had to learn. And then I just said, sorry, you don't go to five. And the friends I did make all moved. And here I am feeling. I'm feeling like the biggest loser ever. So I had two choices. Become bitter and mean or say, no one's saving me. But I already saved myself to even make it to America. So next year, every friend I had that was a troublemaker, I said, I just stopped going to lunch with them. I made new friends, or I just was by myself and eventually removed myself. And there's a happy ending if I go this far. The next year, I had a teacher because I had to repeat fourth grade. Her name was Mrs. Allard. She had the reputation of the meanest teacher in the school. Meanest teacher. And I had her a little afraid of this, but can I go here? Is this all right? So I'm sitting in all rows, and these kids all paid attention. But a lot of them were talking when they shouldn't be. And she would. She'd do things that couldn't be done, couldn't be done. In school today, she had a large coffee can. What is that? If you're talking and she told you already to stop talking. This is what you got. Little bits of chalk, nubs that you can't use. She'd wing them at the students. Right through the hair, right through there. She was a perfect shot. You could tell every kid who didn't know how to keep their mouth shut in her room. Because when they're walking down the hall, you can see the stripe Today, you'd be in big trouble for that. But I'll tell you, she taught me more that year. Remember, the English language is my second language. So that year, she didn't accept anything but my best work. No teacher had ever done that before. She gave me the attention I needed. That's why your mother is so good at what she does. The attention students need is given. But you don't judge those kids. Because everyone has a story of what it is, where they're coming from. So all to say eventually grew to love school. And I started with the worst of the worst kids, which many of them didn't even probably belong there. And eventually I made new friends and got into high school, kept working, because Mrs. Allard, she was my inspiration, always, just work harder. If you think it's done, look at it again. You can do it better. By the time I was a junior and senior, I was in all honors classes and AP classes. Because I worked my way there. Could never have done it without the love of one or two or three teachers. And my mother and father, of course. But remember, they didn't really know what was going on. I was too ashamed to tell them. So I was doing this all myself. And then one day, I met this very attractive young lady in college. And turns out she was an education major. No, she was a psychology major. But she wanted to get into education. I was a biology and chemistry major. And she said, well, when you pick me up, I'm helping in these classes, getting ready to do student teaching. So I'm standing at the door, and she said, Oh, I can't leave now. My teacher had to go to a quick meeting, so it's going to be another 30 minutes. And I said, all right. So I'm standing there, and then she looked over and said, you know, it's just basic math. You could help it. And they were like fourth graders. So I went over and I was kneeling down and helping some kid with the math, and he, oh, I get it now. Another kid, can you help me? And I turn over. He said, oh, yeah, no, no. This is how you move from fractions to percentages. Let me show you this. Da, da, da. Half hour later, which went by like that, you know, there were kids going, oh, thanks, thanks. I fell in love with teaching by accident, and then I just continued my education. I fell in love with this young woman, and we got married after college, you know, and I went to graduate school, learned how to be a teacher, blah, blah, blah, blah. Telling you a lot more than you probably wanted to hear right away. But the story connects. All the stories connect. Sure. Any other question that comes to mind? A place you want me to go A little bit more? If you need to.

16:13 What do you feel most grateful for in your life?

16:17 I would just say it's the people who believed in me. Obviously, the love of my life is my wife. I have three wonderful grandchildren. I have a wonderful life now. But if it wasn't for two or three teachers who said I was worth something. Now, I knew it in my head, but when you're labeled as a troublemaker, a bad student, you'll never amount to anything. And I did have one or two teachers say that to me when I was young. Okay. In fact, one of them I'll share, not by name, but I forget what grade it was. Probably fifth grade. And she would sit behind her desk all the time. I don't think I ever saw her stand up and move around the room. And she'd put the papers in a pile, and kids would then disperse them around the room. Nothing wrong with that. She was very organized. I sometimes had trouble with homework. A lot of times I had trouble with homework because I went to different schools before I got to where I finally ended up. And every time I moved, that's because my father was a pilot in the Air Force and he would move to a new base, Right. Every time I got there, I had to pick up where they were. And I'll never forget, I got this paper with percentages all over it, and I had just started to learn fractions in the other school. No one there cared That I didn't learn fractions yet because they never asked me anything. It was just expected. Here's the book. Here's this. So you can believe that slowly, if you don't understand well enough, you are not doing the homework right, even though you might try. Then you walk in and it is like, oh, it is not even done. And then you don't even bring it in because you are ashamed of the fact that you are that lost. This is how bad this woman was. She knew I didn't have my homework this day because many days I was the one who didn't. And she would say. She would call me Billy, I'm Bill, or William. She called me Billy. He said, billy, stand up. Did you do your homework today? And I said, no, I didn't. And of course, because I was ashamed of that, I would make up a story. I lost it, it got torn up, my dog ate it kind of thing. I always had an excuse, and she knew it, and she used it against me, because those are also called alibis, if you've ever heard the term. And she then nicknamed me Alibi Bill. Everyone in the class meet Alibi Bill. All the kids would look at me with that look, like, alibi Bill. Could it get worse than that? Oh, yeah. She had an accordion under her desk. It was one of her favorite instruments, and she liked to play it after school. She'd pull it out, sit there and make up a song about Alibi Bill and said, okay, kids, now together. And she would sing this song with the accordion. Me standing there like I had no clothes on, right? And all the kids are basically pointing at me without pointing and singing and looking with those eyes. You poor loser. Trust me. As I grew up, as I moved on, everyone who ever thought I was a poor loser either apologized to me or wouldn't even look at me in the eyes. Because they knew how bad they had been. I had to forgive them because it wasn't their fault. It was a bad teacher's fault. She should have never been a teacher in a classroom, and the principal should have known how bad she was. And I remember that as I went through teaching. I started teaching in 1979. 78. 78. And trust me, all those memories, they didn't haunt me. They just said, if I see a kid like that. I remember being in meetings my first couple of years, and teachers go, well, you know, we got to get a little tough here on Harry. He's always turning around, not paying attention. He's dazing on. And I go, well, have you Talked to him about why he's doing this. Well, he just needs to learn how to do the work. Well, maybe you need to talk to him. And they look at me like so I knew as a young teacher I wouldn't talk. So you realize you're falling behind. It can't feel good for you to fall behind, because I knew that already, right from my experience. And once the mouth worked and the kids started, you find out the story. Mom and dad have been fighting for a long time. I can't even concentrate on my schoolwork or another kid. Well, I come to school so hungry. There were no breakfast programs in those days. So here's a kid's hungry and teachers are going, I don't know about you, but when I'm hungry in the morning, I can't concentrate by midday, right? I could be falling asleep. Wake up. No, no. So I told that to the teachers, and they looked at me like I said, someone's got to call home. Nobody would. That's not what they did. I called home, and sometimes I get someone that said, none of your business. 2. Well, thanks for telling me. I didn't know he was needing his lunch or whatever. So I know what good teachers look like and what they don't look like. And when things work well, it's usually because you get a good teacher. They're trying to work and help with everyone takes more than that, but that's a start. And I'm sorry, I already forgot your question, but I tend to roll. Okay. Things tie together.

22:35 What's one thing that really changed your life?

22:41 I think it was when I realized that I had to take care of anything myself. But there were good people around me, even in the orphanage. It's one of those things. It's not like one. It was a spark. It was an idea. Even at a young age, that changed my life. I mean, when I was a kid, I realized how curious I was, you know? And I remember the back of the gate had a mailbox, which was nothing more than a. Like a container with a curved edge to it. And I put my foot on it because I didn't have any shoes. And I'd look over the top because I heard something. It was strange. Turns out it was a horse. You could hear a horse. But seeing it is a whole different story. But I guess realizing that you can do anything and become anything, which I know sounds corny in today's world, but I frankly live that. And I was able to learn early on the difference between good people and nasty people. And I Always stayed away from the nasty people. I was in one, in one home that there were two brothers older than me, probably high school age. And one, the blonde one, treated me very nicely, always asked for what I needed. I slept in a little corner place in their room and the other one was a dark haired guy. When a blonde left, he'd find a way to kick me or do something like that, you know. And I just realized two people can almost be identical and become completely different. So I know this may not be what you're looking for for an answer, but I found the secret to success and that is surround myself with the kind of people I want to be. And it took time to get there, but I never felt like I was never sad of being, you know, in an orphanage. And in fact, the day I was adopted, we went to Paris because my dad was stationed in it. So we flew to Paris and here I am in Paris and you know, we're walking through some gardens and my new father and mother calling out to me. Remember I. I could barely understand anything, right? But you talk about one happy go, lucky kid. And that's, you know, I have a. Still a pretty good disposition and demeanor. I don't get angry easily, right? But anyways, I'm a kid and I'm running around like I shouldn't be even. I was told not to because it was so exciting to see this and see that. And then I turn the corner and all I remember is bang. And then I opened my eyes and I'm on the ground. There's a big guy standing there with his arms on his hips and he's pointing at me like this. He was on a bicycle in the park and he was not supposed to be. And he was speeding through the park. When he turned the corner and I was there, he hit me full center on. I was tied up in his front spokes of his bicycle. My leg had snapped and was over here off at an angle. And he was just angry that I ruined his bike or it ruined his day, whatever it was. Now I wasn't crying because it didn't hurt yet. My mother, father came up, untangled me. My father carried me to their car and they sped off to the military hospital. Can I tell the story? So along the way I'm there and I'm now in my mother's arms, right? We're in a like one of those yellow checker cab things, kind of big. And next to my mother is a beautiful woman who happened to be a famous opera singer of the day. They knew some People. And her name was Lily, I believe. And across was a priest. And my middle name is Damien, and so is his. He was my godfather, turns out. And then my father here. So we're going to the hospital now. My mother tells me this story because I vaguely remember it. And she said, you know, you were crying the whole time as we're going. And I said, I don't remember it hurting. And she said, I looked at Lily and said, oh, he must be, you know. And I'm babbling in German. I'm babbling in German. They have no idea what I'm saying. And this gets emotional for me to tell sometimes. But I'm crying, and Lily looks to my mother and she's got tears in her eyes. And my mother says, what? What? He must be terribly hurt. What is he saying? We need to know what he's saying. She said, he's not talking about his broken leg. He's just begging you. Begging, begging you not to take him back. Because he knows he's broken now. And if I'm broken, you're probably going to take me back. Please don't take me back. So she, you know, they got me the hospital, they fixed the leg, which, gotta tell you, the doctor didn't say what he was gonna do because if he did, I wouldn't have let him. But my father holds me from the back. You gotta pull the leg, and then you get a reset, and then it's got to come back to where it's supposed to be. I was excruciating. He put me in a cast. And after that, it was just a cool thing that everyone wanted to sign. Look, I'm just a lucky man who got to be lucky enough to be able to do something I never thought I would ever be interested in doing. Going into a school all of my life because I didn't like school for so long, right? So I guess my answer to the question is I was blessed with the wisdom from somebody to know what right and wrong was. And making sure I always surrounded myself with good people, good things, and never let anyone put me down. No one ever got the best of me. Never. Not in a fight and not in a mental battle. That's because I'm not. I'm the smartest guy in town. But you're not going to outwit me, because I'm going to be on my feet till the end. And then I realized so many kids are misunderstood. And I loved kids that everyone else said, you know, oh, I don't want him in my class. I want her in my class. And as a teacher, I just welcomed all in. My wife was the same way. And so whatever happened to me turned me into a teacher that most students appreciated. And so that was my gift to me and I tried to share that gift back over 42 years of teaching. Thanks for asking.

30:22 For future generations of your family listening to this years from now, is there any wisdom you want to pass on to them? What would you want them to know?

30:33 Again, a corny response. But the most powerful thing in the world and in nature, and I can back this up if you allow me, is the word love. It's the most powerful thing because one it's so misunderstood. But think about it. When someone is loved, it changes their world because they know they're not alone. They know there's going to be support there. I was loved by my mother. I know that my wife, when I had some dark days, she would say, remember your mother, which you never knew, had to have given you so much love because it gave you the strength to stand up for yourself. Because I told her all these stories too. I would simply like my future generation to know my grandsons who like my daughter, was the love of my life. Right. Only had one child. Grew up to be someone that so proud of. Been teaching for years. Everything I hear is how good she is. And I just want my grandsons to do things that will help change the world in a positive way. And I just didn't know that I could do that. My bit part a little at a time. But I guess all to say that love is actually almost considered a force of nature of the cosmos. There are some of the smartest people in the world who actually believe that it's love that probably remains when we die. Remember what Isaac Newton said. You learned it in school. Neither matter nor energy can be like created or destroyed. Exactly. And you know Newton has never been disproved about that. We can't take matter and make it disappear. We can burn it, crush it, but it never disappears and it never comes out of thin air. And it was only 200, 300 years ago. People had no idea where things came from. Someone once saw a mouse come out from under a rag in a barn years and years ago. I remember reading the story and they told their friends that I know where mice come from. All you need to do is throw a rag in the corner of the barn and tomorrow morning you open, there'll be mice there. And then you can grab a molt in a bucket and drown them. Because we want to get rid of them. Wow. And so they all figured mice just came out of thin air. Because what happens is you open up the door of a barn, the leaves, the leftover seed, all things end up in a corner. You throw a rag there because you're done with it. It's a place to hide. It's warm, it's cozy. And in their mind, they never saw the mouse go in. And in their thinking, that mouse comes from a result. It's called the recipe for mice. And it might still be on the Internet because it's this whole thing. I just say this because we have gotten to the point Newton, again. Neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed. The only difference between me talking to you right now and then being dead on the floor. You could weigh me, same weight. My energy is the only thing that's different because that which allows me to speak to you here is invisible. Can we agree, right? There's no way to really grab it and put it in a bottle. Yeah, you can record my voice, right? The face, take a bit. Once I'm on the four floor dead, that energy appears to be gone. But Newton said it cannot be destroyed. Now I'm not talking, is it a soul? Is it a spirit? I'm just saying all of that probably has to do with invisible energy. And there are those very smart people who study what's called cosmology, the study of all of space. A couple of them really brilliant, but think differently than all the number crunchers. I've read their work and they say Newton can't be wrong just because it doesn't make sense to us. So what happens with the energy? It just floats into the ether and you exist forever as a bundle of energy until love grabs you somewhere. And what's the love? Maybe, maybe we do. Maybe that energy is what becomes of the new little one loved ones that we get as such precious packages when someone has a baby. Because that baby, that baby needs the energy from somewhere. No theory. It's all bad energy. I'm telling you right now. I've had experiences in my life that you don't have time to record. But I'm one of the few people you're ever going to meet that has met some of the smartest people on the planet and have told this story. And you were there the day I did, right, about the dowsing and everything. And they're going, I can't explain it. I said, I can't either. But I can tell you this. It happened. So love, I believe that's simply a manifestation of Love. And once we get like, it's blown into us, can evil be blown? I suspect so. But love has to be stronger and conquer that. And, you know, you can write a book about this stuff. You can make up stories about this, you can make a movie of this. And that's not what I do. But I know enough to know once you're dead, it ain't over. Sorry. Because I'm a man of science and if you just sit there. All right, so tell me, where's the energy go? There are no good answers. Okay. So my greatest gift that I ever had was to have an open mind, not to listen to anything stupid. Right. And anyone's weird idea, you go, all right, you know, I'll think about that. And then pretty soon, yeah. Because there are a lot of people, unfortunately, this last election cycle who simply listened to everything else that people were saying. They didn't filter. They said, well, when I asked why did my research. Where'd you get it? Well, I want a Facebook. No. Like, you sit in class. Original research is the only research that you can trust. And even then look at multiple sources. We people are not trained enough. And it's not your age, I hate to say it, people my age and they. But remember, they didn't come from the computer age. So I don't know if that answers your question, but I'm a blessed man and I know it and I hope and I believe that my grandsons are going to do great things. I give them a hard time when they don't do anything that's not useful and productive. But I. There's not a day I don't wake up knowing how lucky and blessed I am and doesn't mean I have all great days. But I know it could be a lot worse because I see people. Because my mother always said, you think you got it bad because, you know, when you're your age, I remember being. Sometimes you can get a little sully and sully because you're having a bad day or whatever, and you want to say everything is so bad. Bad. Right. It's human nature. It's part of growing up. But my mother's way of kind of getting me out of it is if you think you're going to have a bad day, just look around because there are other people having a worse day. And at first I thought, what do you say? And then I saw somebody, you know, I saw somebody that was asking for money and I could tell they were really down and out. They had nothing. Right. Might have seen them on the street or kids who were struggling or kids that, you know, didn't have enough to eat. And I realized my mother was right. So I really appreciate you asking me these questions.

39:10 Thank you for.

39:12 That's all right.

39:13 Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.

39:17 I really enjoyed this. I think you can hear that when I talk. You know, I have no problem talking about this. And again, it's not sad to me. It just reminds me that I got it really good now. And I like to think it helped make me a better teacher, because I was always aware of the kids who might be struggling, because there are a lot of teachers who never struggled in their lives. And so they walk around and they think, of course you did your homework. I've been teaching that subject for a long time. They don't struggle with it. When I ran the science department, I was head of the department. I made sure all of my teachers. I said, you make sure that all your instructions make sense. Don't pull stuff out you've been using for years. And the best way to find out whether it makes sense, sit down, take your own test, sit down, take your own quiz. I do the same. And you know how many mistakes they found are going. We never went over that. I can't believe that teachers should take the time. I know I'm always going back to teachers, but honestly, the most important profession on the planet is working with the next generation, and I believe that. So thank you so much. I enjoyed this.

40:33 Thank you.