William Malcolm “Mack” Egger, a revered high school math and physics teacher and a tireless doer of good deeds for the townspeople of his native Caledonia, died Monday afternoon.
He was 93.
Egger fell and broke his hip Friday morning and underwent surgery Saturday, said Debbie Lawrence, a great niece who was at his side throughout his hospital stay.
Egger served in the Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II and attended Ole Miss. After teaching stints at Caledonia and New Hope, Egger moved to Lee High School where he taught physics and advanced math from 1954 until 1991. There, he exhibited the gift common to all memorable teachers — an ability to impart his enthusiasm for a subject to his students. Many of those students went on to math- and science-based careers.
One of them, Frank Owen, who has taught mechanical engineering in Maine and now at California Polytechnic State University, credits Egger with putting him on the path to science by showing him the field could be fun.
“He was a hi-jinx jokester in class and made math and science fun.” Owen wrote in an email from Italy this morning. “And little did I know what a launching pad that class was to my future career.”
Responding to news of Egger’s death, David Haynes, a retired FedEx pilot, wrote: “Sometimes you just have to stop everything and remember those who’ve profoundly impacted your life. Mr. Egger was one of those. A few moments to remember and honor him this afternoon are pitifully just not enough. Many lives are richer — incredibly so — for having known him.”
(The full text of Haynes’ and Owen’s emails can be found on today’s opinion page.)
“He knew how to teach and make it fun, and you didn’t want to disappoint him,” said Chris Buster, a mechanical engineer at EKA Chemicals. “He was the greatest teacher I ever had; he had a huge impact on a lot of people.”
Buster said Egger was the reason he became an engineer.
“Every time we had a class reunion we invited Mrs. (Betty) Carnes and Mr. Egger,” said Buster. “And they always came.”
Caledonia Alderwoman Brenda Willis, who has lived across the street from Egger since her family moved to Caledonia in 1971, said Egger was like a grandfather for her two daughters.
“He used to measure my oldest daughter in his shop,” Willis said. “He’d put a mark on the wall and put her age and date. I guess it’s still over there. She caught her first fish fishing with Mack. To this day, she still loves to fish.”
That daughter, Bettsy Ellis, now 43 and a grandmother, said about Egger, “He was the smartest man I know. He would even play basketball with us.”
Egger won the heart of Willis’ younger daughter Jacque, then 4, after the crying doll she got for Christmas stopped crying. Egger cut the doll open, removed and repaired the mechanism and then reinserted it into the doll and sewed it up.
“We called him Dr. Mack after that,” said Willis.
“He could repair anything and wouldn’t charge for it,” said Mary Betts Williams, the town’s former librarian. “Sometimes he would seek people out who he knew needed his help. He was such a caring and wonderful character; there won’t be anybody to replace him.”
Egger was also self-appointed custodian of Egger Cemetery, a sprawling family graveyard north of Caledonia. As such he took care of the grounds and kept records.
“It’s hard to talk about it,” Brenda Willis said Monday afternoon. “Caledonia and our family have lost a dear friend.”
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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