Bill Carroll
I am so very sorry for your loss.
Ms. Clifton had an unforgettable impact on my life. She was my English teacher from sixth through eighth grade, and I can still hear her voice calling my name when it was my turn to read aloud: “All right, Bill!” She was, without question, the most influential teacher I ever had.
What other sixth grader was learning the six elements of classical tragedy or reading The Crucible? We were—because she knew what we were capable of. I struggled endlessly with diagramming sentences, but her patience never wavered. She taught me how to do it, and in the process she pulled out the creative writer inside me.
Nearly fifty years later, her words of wisdom still echo in my mind. Her flair for the dramatic held me in awe, and her honesty—telling me when my work was great and when it was, quite frankly, junk—made me better. I credit every success I have had as a writer directly to her.
Ms. Clifton shaped who I became, and her influence remains one of the greatest gifts of my life.
