Paul Long (pictured) was one of 25 people killed in last week’s Metroliner crash in the Los Angeles area. He taught at Grace Brethren Junior/Senior High School in Simi Valley for 18 years, and was remembered in this current newspaper article. Here is an excerpt–to read the entire article, click here.
“He was a very gentle man, very softspoken,” said Crittenden, a longtime member of Life Spring. “He made silly puns, and we’d all groan after he made them. He was known for that. . . . He always carried his backpack with him, filled with folders of English papers to correct.
“He retained a sweet innocence about him. I never heard him make a sarcastic remark— quite unusual in today’s world.”
Children in Jennifer Morgan’s Sunday School class at Life Spring wrote down what they loved about Long.
“He was always being positive instead of negative,” said one note written by Sergio Barrates.
“You are a great teacher. I will miss you Pastor Paul,” wrote a girl named Jasmine.
Long came to Oaks Christian from Grace Brethren two years ago. At Grace Brethren he taught algebra and English and served as a guidance counselor. He began his tenure at the Simi school, which now has more than 400 students, when there were only 30 pupils.
“As a small school, whatever we needed, he did,” Deutsch said. “I worked with him for eight years, and I enjoyed him tremendously. He was silly and zany and loved the students.
“No matter what he was teaching, his heart foremost was for Christ.”