Outgoing and Friendly
[Posted to my LiveJournal as well; thanks for setting up this site, David Poll!]
As a student at Troy, I was in his classes almost every semester. Freshman year he taught our ICT class (one semester), then AP Computer Science A for the latter majority of our sophomore year (after Mr. Steele was put on involuntary administrative leave), and AP CS AB our junior year, and Robotics & Fuzzy Logic during the first semester of our senior year there.
As a teacher, he was one of the most patient and helpful persons I’ve ever known. If you were having trouble with something, he would repeat it as many times as you needed, in as many ways as he could think of just to ensure that you not only understood the concept, but had a strong mastery of it and could it apply it with confidence. If you had a question about something, he was available nearly 24/7 - you could grab him before or after a class, or could email him at any reasonable hour and expect a quick yet thorough response. He would sometimes spend an entire class period just explaining one or two minor, but important, details of our programming.
As a mentor, he encouraged us to better ourselves every single day. Not just in programming or CS, but in life as a whole. He would always urge us to challenge ourselves, break out of our “comfort zones,” so to speak. Sure, we could write code that does the assignment correctly, but how elegant could we make it? How could we apply algorithms and data types we were learning about to make our code simpler? How could we apply these to real life puzzles and situations?
He was a very witty and outgoing man. Nearly every day there was a geeky joke or comic strip on the whiteboard. He always had a smile and a funny story to share, and he could always make students laugh (at times, even at the expense of other students who themselves would laugh). He was one of the few teachers I’ve ever had who made the learning and workload not just tolerable, but fun. Interesting and enjoyable, day-in and day-out.
He positive demeanor and willingness to help those around him touched many lives. He was a great teacher, mentor, and father who cared deeply for his wife and two young children. He will be sorely missed; and I will keep his family in my prayers.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Wittry. The memories you have left with us past students and friends shall persist indefinitely; and in them, so shall you.