When Morgan Hill resident Mike Crocker lost his battle with
pancreatic cancer last Saturday, the community not only lost a
dedicated educator, but also a role model for courage.
When Morgan Hill resident Mike Crocker lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last Saturday, the community not only lost a dedicated educator, but also a role model for courage.
A former math teacher, Crocker came to Morgan Hill in 1997 as principal of Jackson Elementary. According to friends and coworkers, he never lost his love of teaching.
“I believe that his ultimate work as a teacher was teaching us to be courageous,” said Pat Blanar, director of curriculum and assessment for the Morgan Hill Unified School District. “He never lost his belief that he would win it (his fight against cancer), but as he came to the end of his life, he said he accepted that God had a plan, and he made it a point to get in touch with everyone … He was facing the end of his life having faith.”
Former Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said she was one of the people Crocker spoke with before he died.
“He called me up and said he had a new coffee pot, and said, ‘I want you guys to come for coffee, just drop by and we’ll have coffee.’” she said, tears evident in her voice. “I expected to see a very sick man – he was a sick man – but he stood behind his cabinet, he made us coffee, we talked about all kinds of things. And he told me, ‘Don’t be sad because I’ve had more in life than anybody like me could possibly deserve; I got Melinda (Crocker, Mike’s wife), I had five more years (after his diagnosis).’ He comforted us, rather than us comforting him.”
Now that he is gone, however, his family, friends and coworkers will comfort themselves with memories of their times together.
An avid cyclist, even when he was ill, Crocker organized a group of cyclists, and his riding group will gather on Saturday to ride 25 to 30 miles in his honor, sharing memories of the man who touched so many lives along the way.
“It’s going to be a leisurely pace and basically flat, this is not a training ride, this is a ride to remember Mike,” said John Molyneux, one of Crocker’s riding buddies. “We want to share Mike’s favorite hobby and memories of our times with him.”
The ride will make stops, he said, with time to share tales about Crocker.
“He meant an awful lot to the community,” Molyneux said. “He has changed so many lives over the years.”
Molyneux said the charter Crocker gave to the cycling group he created is typical of him: “He called the group ‘Javo Velo,’ … and the mantra was, everybody rides together, ride for fun not a big exercise workout, nobody gets dropped, … and the ride begins and ends with coffee. It was a very social thing.”
Crocker’s focus on people made him a good mentor, said former sixth grade teacher Laura Dzek, who worked with him at Jackson Elementary and eventually took over for nearly a year while he was on medical leave.
“He was truly a mentor,” she said Friday. “A gifted administrator, he had a rapport with students that was uncommon. I’ve worked under a number of principals, and his rapport with students was superior.”
Crocker worked with students in an informal math club, Dzek said, and she, Blanar and McKennan all mentioned his efforts to organize an after-school homework club which was an exception in the district.
Dzek said Crocker was always willing to give her advice, and when he wasn’t available for some reason, she would try to think which direction he would have taken: “What would Mike Crocker do?”
“There are just too many things to say about Michael,” McKennan said. “You know, as a superintendent, you hear at least some bad things about everyone. But when a parent would call about him, it was maybe that someone else was doing something, and they wanted Mike to have them stop it. We just didn’t hear bad things … I guess the greatest thing, if I have to name only one, would be his attitude. He had a wonderful spirit, he was so positive, so enthusiastic, so uplifting. We all gained by being around him.”
Anyone with a bike and memories to share is invited to join in the memorial bike ride today, beginning at 10am. Riders will gather at 9:45am in the Vineyard Town Center parking lot, between the McDonald’s and Erik’s Deli Cafe restaurants.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@mo*************.com.
