Theilers honor math teacher with scholarship
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POLSON — Not many students think enough of a teacher they had in high school to start a scholarship in his name, but the Theilers did.
Six Theiler children, Mary Pat, Matthew, Kathleen, Betsy, Hugh and Sarah, graduated from Polson High School; and they all studied mathematics with John Oberlitner. Their parents, Maureen and Ray Theiler, still live south of Polson.
About five years ago, the Theiler clan was discussing Christmas and whether to draw names. Everyone buys gifts for the children so it was only the adults in question.
Matriarch Maureen said, “We all have enough stuff.” She suggested a scholarship in honor of John Oberlitner since all the kids had him for math.
After discussion, it was decided each person would give what he or she could afford, and it would be anonymous. As of 2011, the Oberlitner scholarship fund has provided Polson High School graduates with $5,000 through the Polson Dollars for Scholars program.
Franny Bumgarner, who graduated from the University of Montana this spring with a degree in art, was the first recipient of the Oberlitner scholarship.
Oberlitner taught at PHS for 40 years, from 1958 to 1998. He had some good teaching experiences, he said, and only knew of “five kids who hated my guts.”
Mary Pat, the oldest Theiler child, told Oberlitner in a letter that in addition to teaching mathematics, he also taught his students about life.
Oberlitner said he never lectured the entire class period. He always gave students time to complete their assignment, and one day a week would spend the last five or 10 minutes of class time to answer questions about all sorts of issues on kids’ minds.
“A lot of kids came out of this school (PHS) who are engineers,” Oberlitner said proudly.
“It almost brings me to tears,” he said. “To do this while I’m still alive.”
The Theiler family challenges other students of Oberlitner to donate to the scholarship or to Dollars for Scholars in general.
