Originally posted: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 2:24 pm | Updated: 2:29 am, Thu Nov 24, 2011.
By JENNIFER SUMMER
It was a shock for Doug Love as he walked out of his front door and was greeted by more than 80 students clapping, cheering and singing.
The Kingwood High School students showed the substitute love and respect at his home Nov. 20 after a couple of students made rude remarks to him last week.
“I heard what the student told Mr. Love, that ‘you’re old and you’re going to die any day’ through Facebook. Since I am the student president with the school’s Just About Kids Foundation, I called the parent sponsor and she suggested we visit Mr. Love’s house to express our respect and thanks,” Kingwood High School student Jason Dayvault said.
The students organized the event within 20 hours by setting up a Facebook page for the event and sharing their disgust with the remarks that were made on their respective Facebook pages.
Affectionately called Mr. Love by students and faculty alike, the 87-year-old has served as a substitute teacher at the school since he first decided to give it a try after being laid off in the early 1980s.
He celebrated 23 years of substitute teaching in the Humble Independent School District December 2010 and is well known for his crazy hats and elaborate ties.
“I received a call from the parent sponsor to make sure I would be home Sunday evening to drop something off. My doorbell rang, they asked me to step outside and that is when I saw all of the students; I was blown away,” Love said.
More than 50 students carried flowers, balloons and signs thanking Love for all of his years serving as a substitute and even gifted him a frame signed by the students including a picture of him in one of his crazy hats.
The students also downloaded the Beatles song “All You Need is Love,” which they played and sang for him outside of his house.
“I had no clue the students would step up to do something like this. It goes to show you they were not going to ignore what happened and this is a marvelous group of students. They really took offense to the comments and wanted to take a stand,” Love said.
The students also gathered Nov. 21 at Kingwood High School to share their stories about Love with other students and community members who were not able to attend the Sunday night event.
Videos taken from Nov. 20 went viral and spread through Facebook as current and former students who had Love as a substitute shared their opinions over the situation and funny stories.
This is not the first time the students are showing love for the sub. A group of students created a Facebook fan page for Love which currently has 3,882 fans and several pictures students have snapped of him throughout the years.
In addition to his fan page, a student of his created a drawing of him for a contest and then presented a copy to him which now hangs in his television room at home.
“I love the students and the staff. I like to think that I have some affect on their lives and make a difference; that is one thing that keeps you going from year to year,” Love said.
