The English department continues to linger in the shadow of its infamous curse. This time, the curse targeted the replacement teacher for Mr. Logan Burns—Mrs. Ashley O’Neil—and again, foul things are afoot with Mr. Hans Hawley.
Ironically, Mr. Hawley was with other English teachers when the second incident happened. The curse, unfortunately, decided it was Mr. Hawley’s time to face yet another foot injury. Now he is again wheeling his way through the hallways on his scooter.
“I went to a conference in Denver with the English teachers this past November, and I had to do a ton of walking,” Mr. Hawley said. “My foot was still tender from the first surgery I had in Dec. 2024 when they installed a bunch of plates, rods, and screws to rebuild the arch on my right foot, which had collapsed. It had developed into an extremely large and painful blister.”
A second surgery followed. Even though his healing process has been cruel and painful, he has still looked at every situation with a positive outlook. For his second time around, everything feels just a bit more familiar to him.
“Believe it or not, the second time has been easier, simply because I’ve been through it all before. Same surgeon. Same doctors and hospitals,” Mr. Hawley said. “I know it’s just a waiting game, and I will eventually heal; I just have to be patient.”
With the familiar trials Mr. Hawley is reexperiencing, he is also still fighting the battle of getting specialized shoes. Before his second time around, Mr. Hawley was buying a size 11 for his left foot and a size 8 extra wide for his right foot.
“I guess the repeated surgeries made my right foot shorter and fatter,” Mr. Hawley said. “Before I got fitted for the special order shoes, I was buying two different pairs every time. I will need those special order shoes for the rest of my life, and I’ll have to replace them at least once a year.”
While the recurring cost of replacing his footwear represents a significant long-term expenditure, Mrs. Ashley O’Neil is dealing with the pricy replacement of items lost in a backyard blaze, including a Winnebago.
“We were standing in the kitchen, and I’ve got my back to the window,” Mrs. O’Neil said. “I was getting ready to walk down the stairs, talking to my husband, and he just looked around me, pushed us out of the way and said, ‘Your chickens are on fire.’”
Mrs. O’Neil managed to get everyone to safety, but it was still a devastating experience, leaving her with no fence, chicken coop or motorhome, though the house itself remained intact.
“We all had a hard time sleeping that night, and I think it took me a couple weeks to really settle back down and not be just on edge,” Mrs. O’Neil said. “Our house is set up so that you can’t see into the backyard at all, except for the one window on the one side. So if it had been on the other side of the house we wouldn’t have been able to see what was happening.”
When all seemed lost, the community became Mrs. O’Neil’s light. Their support helped her endure the curse and rebuild what was consumed by the flames.
“We’ve been working to replace the fence and the coop,” Mrs. O’Neil said. “It was awesome how the community, especially here at the school, rallied around. The wood shop is building us a new coop, and Mrs. [Amy] Moore organized a couple of people that she knows that came out and helped my husband.”
No one will ever know when the English curse will end, but perseverance has kept spirits high in the English department.
“I know it’s just a waiting game, and I will eventually heal,” Mr. Hawley said. “I need to give a special shout-out to Mr. Wormald and my students. They have all been incredibly patient with me this year as I’ve gone through this twice. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do all this in a different job.”
