Honoring the Teachers of Culver City High School

Please email us with the fond memories you have of any teacher you would like to share with others.

The teacher I most admired and respected at CCHS was the late Mr. John Brueckner (1924-1984), who I had for French I, French II and Russian. He was a dignified, brilliant, cultured, multilingual man, a classically trained baritone singer, an accomplished artist, an innovative teacher of French, German and Russian, and the author of Brueckner's French Contextuary, a contextual dictionary. He was also, unbeknownst to most of us, an unsung hero of the US Army Air Force in World War II, having been a crew member of a B-24 bomber based in Italy that was shot down over Yugoslavia while en route to a bombing mission over Germany. Mr. Brueckner was blasted out of the plane, captured by the Germans and, after recovering from his wounds, interned in a POW camp in Germany. I never heard him mention a word about his military service but from others I'd heard rumors about it. In 2002 I was able to contact his twin brother, an emeritus professor of physics at UCSD to verify the details.

Mr. Brueckner had a penetrating, understated sense of humor. He had an aura of inner strength and humility. In addition to conversation and vocabulary, some of the maxims and phrases that he taught us had depth and wisdom in them, if we cared to take them to heart. I was not one of his best students and it was only in later years that I realized how much I had benefitted from his teaching.

He and his wife lived in Culver City, near El Rincon school. With some friends, while walking on his street, I once met him coming out of his house and he was friendly to us. Another time with my parents, both of whom were also WW II vets, I met him shopping at Mayfair Market. He'd seen us in the audience at the school play, Our Town, that year, and asked what we thought of it. I didn't realize it at the time, but while growing up in Culver City we were surrounded by heroes in many walks of life. Mr. Brueckner was certainly one of them. It was an honor to have known him.

Walt Gottesman '62

My memory of Ms. Keene is so dear. She was an exquisite woman. Tall; to me - statuesque. Passionate about the all of the arts, and specifically literature, which she taught, came alive for me. She was so in touch with the same passion as the romantic poets she recited to our class. Students flocked around her after class and after school; she endeared us to her. Just being around her ignited in many of us the potential for reflection and self-expression. She added to the universe. She was a true inspiration to me and the journey I would soon be taking into adulthood.

Diane Spiwak '67