Delano Campus is still in a stage of mourning for a faculty member, Robert Mickols, who had been teaching history at the campus since it opened.

Faculty reminisced about the times they shared individually with Mickols, including Mickols’ own son Christopher Mickols, who followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a history teacher at Delano.”My father was one of the main reasons I went into teaching because he defined himself by his work with his students,” he said.

Robert Mickols had been a teacher for more than 40 years before he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Twenty years of Robert Mickols’ life was spent at the Delano Campus and 20 years at Wasco Elementary before he was unable to teach.”He didn’t think something like this would happen to him. When he was first diagnosed, he didn’t understand it, and the main thing for him was to get back to work as soon as possible after surgery and treatment,” Christopher said.

Christopher was only able to spend one semester teaching with his father, and he went on to say how a lot of students would sign up for his class thinking they were taking his father’s class.

Along with Christopher, other co-workers were open and willing to talk about Mickols’ reputation and status at Delano Campus. Rich McCrow, Delano Campus director, was a friend and colleague of Robert Mickols. McCrow remembers him as always smiling, and his words were always kind.

“He was an outstanding guy who worked hard and loved teaching, history and students,” McCrow said.

McCrow recalls when Mickols called and told him he was ill and would not be able to teach anymore and had to take time off for treatment. He remembers Mickols wanting to come back and start teaching again at the middle school before he passed.

McCrow’s assistant was Raquel Lopez who had been Mickols’ friend since 2001. Lopez has many warm memories of Mickols.

“He was very friendly and popular, and students cared a lot about him at the Delano Campus,” Lopez said.

Lopez was one of the many people to be touched right away by his dedication. She talked a little about how he first began feeling ill before being diagnosed with cancer.”To hear that he wasn’t coming back was hard and kind of sad,” Lopez said.

Christopher Mickols, McCrow and Lopez all agreed that he was a dedicated teacher and had a unique passion for teaching.