Article published November 19, 2009
ANDREW A. HIGH, JR., 1931-2009
Ex-Whitmer English teacher was a jazz lover
Andrew A. High, Jr., a retired Whitmer High School teacher who loved jazz and Shakespeare, died in his West Toledo home Tuesday of complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 78.
Mr. High taught English at Whitmer for 18 years before retiring on disability in the early 1980s because of Parkinson’s. He especially enjoyed teaching Shakespeare and acting as adviser to the school’s Jazz Club.
He was a big jazz lover, his daughter Martha DiLorenzo said.
“He went to many, many concerts over the years. I saw Dizzy Gillespie with him. We didn’t have clothes in our closets at home — we had jazz records, hundreds of them,” she explained.
Mr. High was born in Chicago and grew up in the St. Louis area, the only child of Mildred and Andrew “Handy Andy” High, who had played third base for the Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
After receiving a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, the younger Mr. High moved to Toledo to work in public relations for the University of Toledo. His job involved watching and writing up sporting events at the university.
One day, in the sports office, Mr. High met Nancy Nightingale of Oregon, who came in to inquire about game tickets. He asked her out, and in 1956, the two were married.
Mrs. High died of cancer in 1977.
Mr. High went into teaching after receiving a master’s degree in education from UT. Before taking a position at Whitmer, he had taught for a year in the Washington Local district’s Trilby Elementary School, his daughter said.
He was a Navy veteran.
In addition to jazz, Mr. High enjoyed opera, classical, and gospel music. He remained an avid golfer, bowler, and fisherman even after he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, his daughter said.
He continued to make annual fishing trips to Arnstein, Ont., in the northern part of the province, where he lived the life of an outdoorsman in a cabin lacking all modern amenities, his daughter said.
Mr. High also enjoyed playing cards and Trivial Pursuit, and the company of the dogs and cats he owned over the years.
A sports fan, he made predictions with his children about which teams would end the season on top.
In his honor, there will be a nature walk at 10 a.m. Sunday in Oak Openings Preserve Metropark, in the Mallard Lake Area.
“We’re just glad that he lived a really rich life,” Mrs. DiLorenzo said.
Surviving are his daughters, Kimberly High and Martha DiLorenzo; son, Andy III, and six grandchildren.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in the H.H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home, 3219 Tremainsville, where the body will be after2 p.m. Sunday.
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