Doing what he enjoys most, Telluride High School English Teacher David Lavender is delivering a speech during today’s senior graduation ceremony.

Much to the astonishment of alumni, friends, colleagues and parents who opine that there’s never been a more enigmatic and enthused English teacher, this year marks Lavender’s last year of teaching.

At 65, he said he is retiring; but then, with an air of mysteriousness that perhaps the future holds untold possibilities in sharing about what he enjoys most, he said, “Working with young people keeps you young.”

One might say the work of a teacher has no beginning and no end. Learning is continuous, and for Lavender, he likes when students let him know what’s going on.

“I routinely like to get together with former students,” he said.

The Planet asked how students should keep in touch with him now that he is entering into retirement — once the school district email he has is formally discontinued, anyway.

“Well, I had a student named Colby Ward. Colby set me up with this gmail account — lavdawg@gmail.com,” he said with a chuckle. “That is a totally unprofessional email, but that’s what he made for me.”

Students like Wiley Holbrooke reflect on Lavender’s willingness to support students in and out of the classroom with a sense of awe.

“Once, he met me on a Saturday to go over an essay that I had written,” Holbrooke said. “We met at a soccer game and reviewed my writing while in the bleachers on the high school field. His ability to cheer on a soccer team while giving me constructive feedback on an essay was unmatched — he could have it both ways. He could celebrate and teach at the same time, effortlessly breaking convention for the good of the students, all while enjoying himself.”

Holbrooke’s mom, Sarah, works locally at the Pinhead Institute as the executive director.

“I will say that as a mom with two kids who graduated from the public school, I couldn't have been happier for my children to have had David Lavender as a teacher,” she said. “He understands how to get children interested in learning, and I think he learns a lot about the children too — witness his gift of a personalized book for each graduating child he taught. It was a moving tradition and our kids were certainly well-taught by him and both cherish the books he gave them.”

Several people told the Planet that Lavender spent considerable time throughout his career in choosing a book as a gift for each student and wrapping it.

“If you mention the books I give to the kids, the corollary is how much I have enjoyed getting to know the kids enough to pick out a book for them,” he said. “That’s been my pleasure.”

As for himself, Lavender said he doesn’t have a favorite book — it changes all the time.

“I have a book list — it’s about 40 pages. There are so many books out there,” he said.

“I love Virginia Wolff,” he added.

Then he mentions Ralph Waldo Emerson and “The Over-Soul,” and then quotes, “Wherever a man comes, there comes revolution.”

Lavender taught courses like creative writing, science fiction and women’s lit.

He began in Telluride teaching freshman English.

“I made all the freshmen cry because I was teaching at the college level before that,” Lavender said. “Then I moved up to teaching juniors and seniors.”

That included more challenging courses like AP English literature and AP English language.

“Literature — what does it do? It transports us to other places without leaving your chair. It gives us empathy and we can experience what life is like through someone else’s eyes,” he said. “English class is really a class in trying to figure out who you are.”

Lavender’s career in Telluride has been as much as a time for figuring out who he is ever since his youth and he comments on such a fact by stating, “Telluride has been the one constant in my life.”

Alumni said he brought historical context to the classroom and helped shape learning with perspectives relevant to Telluride and the region.

On the subject of Telluride School District alumni, Lavender said he has been fortunate.

“The kids are doing really well. I’ve got former students working at The Coffee Cowboy who are doing really well and I have former students interning in Washington, D.C., who are doing really well,” he said. “Most have been doing well because the kids who are most successful have stumbled into a situation where they are doing what they love. It is really fun to see students succeed and to make such wonderful lives.”

Lavender said that when he sets “very high expectations … I hope that I help them to realize they are entirely capable of meeting them,” adding that when he is tough, it’s because he cares.

Then he quoted William Faulkner. “The past is not the past until it's over.”