What!!??
Can you post a link to the article, please?
Its paywalled off but here is the copy:
Former German teacher dies
© 2022 News-Register Publishing
Burkhard Gebauer, who taught German and history at McMinnville High School for more than 20 years, died suddenly July 15 while visiting family in Germany.
The McMinnville resident was in his early 60s. Friends said he had traveled to Hamm, his hometown in northern Germany, to celebrate his mother's birthday. He apparently died in his sleep.
A celebration of life will be held in McMinnville at a later date.
"Burkhard was a remarkable guy," said Jan Messinger, who described the former teacher as "a member of our family for 25 years."
Gebauer taught hundreds of students after joining Mac High in 1992, and took many of his German students on exchange trips to Germany. He taught European history and some aviation classes, as well, before retiring in 2015.
Gebauer remained active in the community after retiring, often writing letters to the editor or online commentary.
He had used a wheelchair for about 25 years after being diagnosed with a degenerative muscular disease, inclusion body myositis, according to Dr. Scott Gibson, a former McMinnville school board member.
"He was mentally sharp," said Gibson, who admired the teacher's intellect and wit.
Messinger also noted Gebauer's "dark sense of humor" that often was self-deprecating. "He was a kind and generous man with a strange sense of humor," he said. "He will be missed."
Gebauer first came to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship to study U.S. history. He returned to Germany to finish college, then married an Oregonian and lived in Portland. He later divorced and moved to McMinnville.
A naturalized American citizen, he frequently returned to Germany to visit his family, whose origins are in Silesia, an area that once was the far eastern edge of Germany, contiguous to Poland.
"It's important to stay in touch, especially with my parents getting older," Gebauer told the News-Register in a 2002 story.
