Mr. Richard Merryman, recently retired English teacher, gave a presentation to the entire freshman class on the history of the Tyrone Area High School.   

The occasion was a part of the freshman seminar class, set up by Mrs. Deskavich, 9th grade English teacher.   Merryman informed the students of the history of TAHS and entertained them with stories of his past.

Merryman told very interesting stories, and found a way to relate them to life lessons that the students could use everyday. He told stories of the old school that was connected to a jail, the hallway made out of a boxcar, and even laxative pudding.

While it might be difficult to understand how “laxative pudding” relates to the history of Tyrone High School, if readers watch Merryman’s lecture (posted above this story) they will understand.

“I am a firm believer that a story makes the point better than anything else, I often have past students that come up to me and tell me that they still remember my stories,” said Merryman.

One of Merryman’s  favorite stories of the school’s history is  that the district was able to build a football field in the middle of the Great Depression.  According to Merryman, it was built in 1933 with a donation from Ida Gray, hence the name Gray Field.

“The school district assigned me to write articles for TyNotes about the schools history,” said Merryman, “and then I started to find out things about the school that I didn’t know about before”.

Merryman also added that “The ninth grade class was a great audience, and deserves to be recognized.”

Merryman, who is an accomplished pianist,  also played one of his favorite songs “You Raise Me Up” on the piano.