Joe Hindle: Thirty-Two Years of Making Science Fun (and Funny)
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innie Smith’s strongest memory of retiring teacher Joe Hindle is not only working with him in the science department for the last six years, but also relying on him as a source of strength and support when her nephew, Brendan Smith ’00, was deployed to Afghanistan. Hindle is no stranger to soldiering, as the Fenn community knows. He served in Vietnam, and for the past several years has shared his emotional remembrances of his “band of brothers” during Veteran’s Day assemblies. “Joe lent me an ear when I needed to talk and he reassured me when we hadn’t heard much from Brendan,” Smith recalls. And when her nephew returned, safe, “Joe was the first to give me a congratulatory hug,” accompanied, she says, by an empathetic sigh of relief. Hindle has tallied thirty-two years at Fenn. Demonstrating his characteristically dry wit, he adds, “But who’s counting?” Over the years he served as head of the Upper School and of the Science department, coached Varsity and Junior Varsity football, Middle School basketball and lacrosse, taught math, and was a member of the Tech team. Hindle even did maintenance work one summer. Along the way he had two senior seats dedicated to him, and two yearbooks. Colleague Derek Cribb says that Hindle “seems to know something about nearly everything.” Dave Duane, Science department chair, agrees, calling Hindle “a resource for the layman’s inquiries,” and says Hindle’s colleagues would pepper him with questions such as “Hey Joe, what’s the chemical compound for SPAM?” or “Will antibacterial soap keep me safe from viruses?” They knew that if Hindle didn’t have the answer, he’d look it up. Hindle is possessed of a quick wit and “a well-timed pun,” Duane says, and is a skilled storyteller, regaling his colleagues with tales of growing up in Rhode Island or of his college track and field exploits. He is also a creature of military habit. “If you beat him to the parking lot in the morning, you’ve really accomplished something,” Duane says. Hindle says he will miss interacting with students, in whom he hopes he has instilled “a love of learning and the realization that science can be fun (and funny).” He kept the bulletin board in his classroom papered with cartoons, especially those by Gary Larsen, “who really gets science.” While offering a tribute to his colleague when the latter was honored for thirty years of service, Duane said he was reminded of what Isaac Newton once said when attributing his
discoveries to others: “If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” He closed by saying, “It has been a pleasure to stand on your shoulders, Joe.” Hindle, who has two grown daughters, and his partner, Jane Higgins, are moving to Lebanon, New Hampshire, where they can ski, hike, bike, and otherwise enjoy the outdoors. That the headquarters of King Arthur Flour is nearby is a bonus. Declares Hindle, an accomplished baker, “What else could I want?”