Faculty Spotlight

 

 

Faculty Spotlight

 

MR. ALBERT DAVID TYSON, III, aka Grampy Tyson

TysonBorn in Niagara Falls, New York, during the depression Al moved to California at the age of 12.  He attended elementary school and junior high in Hawthorne and graduated from Leuzinger High in 1949. He then went to El Camino College where he played JV and Varsity Football, all while MHS was no more than just a bunch of wild oat fields.  He joined the Air Force in 1952, during the Korean War.  After spending 2 years in Alaska, prior to its becoming a state, he returned to El Camino College to obtain his AA degree.  Then it was on to the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned his BA and Junior High teaching credential.  For 5 years beginning in 1959, Monroe Jr. High was lucky to have him teaching 8th grade Social Studies, English, Math and Photography.  Al made everlasting friendships with Mr. Krislock, Bobbie and Art Callen, and several of “his kids” including Stan Love (’67) and Jim Kurtz (’65), even being invited to a BBQ by Jim while Jim was stationed in Germany.  For 3 years, Al commuted to Monroe from Huntington Beach, with three other faculty members including Coach Van who he later reconnected with at the Mane Event.  The drive finally got to him, plus he wanted a chance to coach, so he transferred to Marina High in Huntington Beach, then to Fountain Valley High where he coached football and had 2 championship teams.  He also coached baseball and progressed from Frosh-Soph to JV to Varsity Coach in 3 years.  In 1960, his life took on a different direction after he responded to a summer employment ad for a seasonal ticket agent with TWA.  That part-time job led to a position as Staff Manager of Sales Training for Saudi Arabian Airlines.  In 1972, he was promoted and for the next four and a half years he conducted management-training sessions in Rome, London, Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul and numerous other eastern and middle-eastern locales.  He returned to the US and to TWA in 1977.  He met and married his second wife, Sharon.  Al took an early retirement from TWA and returned to teaching with the Los Angeles Unified School District, first at the Junior High level and then at Van Nuys High where he taught US History and coached B football, JV Baseball, and Co-ed Golf.  In 1995, Al and Sharon retired and moved to the Summerlin area of Las Vegas.  He and Sharon spend lots of time with son Albert (“Ty”), daughter, Chris, grandkids Albert, “TJ,” Alison, Lauren, and Leslie and great granddaughter, Beckah Rae.

 

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