The typical decor in a high school counselor's offices consists of file cabinets full of student records, a box of Kleenex--maybe a smattering of pastel-hued inspirational posters. But not in the realm of Bellarmine College Preparatory teacher and counselor Rob Suarez. His office "was wall-papered" in jokes and teasing notes from his students, English teacher Chris Lorenc says.
"He created a culture of fun and wit ... he brought that out in everybody around him," says Lorenc, his friend and co-worker of more than 20 years. "He was great at difusing pretentiousness, and poking fun. Yet he was always sensitive and concerned about the most serious things."
With laughter and tears, the Bellarmine community has spent the past week remembering the life of Mr. Suarez, who died on Friday, Feb. 12, from complications following a heart attack. Suarez was 48 years old.
At last week's memorial vigil for the popular teacher, more than 800 folks showed up to pay their respects.
"The seating capacity at the cathedral is 800," Bellarmine administrator Loretta Pehanich says. "And people had to stand in the aisles. A lot of people knew this guy. He touched so many with his generosity."
Suarez worked at Bellarmine for much of the past 24 years. He taught both theology and math, and grew close to many of Bellarmine's students through his work as a counselor.
Suarez volunteered to set up group counseling sessions for students coping with loss. Jim Urhausen, chairman of Bellarmine's counseling department, says Suarez often worked after-hours and weekends with students in need.
"Most guys know their teachers, but everybody knew Mr. Suarez," Bellarmine president Father Muller says. "He cared so much about everyone, especially those on the margins. He just had a great respect for the mysteries of life."
Suarez's commitment to students led him to set up a fishing club so he could spend more time with them--even though he didn't particularly like to fish. "No one ever really saw a fish there," Lorenc laughs.
Lorenc says Suarez touched so many because he gave so much, and cared so deeply about those around him. "He'd get so excited about his projects. He was always helping other people. He'd get this look in his eye. The look I'd get if I'd just won a trip to Italy or something."
It was a look that Suarez had after his latest trip to El Salvador. He'd visited the country several years before with Bellarmine teachers and students, but paid for last summer's trip out of his own pocket after hearing reports of increasing violence.
"Many people have given material aid," Lorenc says. "But Rob knew that people also need emotional support. He had a completely unfeigned sense of equality with all people. I think that's why he connected so well with everyone."
In El Salvador, Suarez set up a program to train Salvadorans in peer counseling. While there he visited Salvadoran prisoners and, discovering that many of them had written poetry about their experiences, gathered their works and began compiling an anthology for them. "Being Rob, he often was drawn to people in the greatest need and the greatest pain," Lorenc says. "He understood intuitively and immediately that he wasn't just giving, but getting back."
When the Christian Faith Community Organization in El Salvador, or CEBES, learned of Suarez's death, board members quickly decided to name the group's counseling program after Suarez.
Suarez, whose father was a Spanish teacher, was also fluent in Spanish. He volunteered as a bilingual counselor with day workers in San Jose, and was especially concerned with peace and justice issues in Latin America, according to Lorenc. He was an avid reader, and a lover of Latin American literature.
"Rob was a good poet," Lorenc says. "He loved poetry and the arts." Lorenc hopes to continue Suarez's poetry anthology project, which he envisioned as a collection of prisoners' writings published in both English and Spanish.
Suarez is survived by his wife, Dorothy, his daughters Molly and Rachel, his mother, brother, and three sisters.
Bellarmine devotes this Wednesday's liturgy to Rob Suarez, and a Salvadoran Solidarity Dinner is being held Thursday in his honor.
Lorenc believes his friend inspired so many because of his playfulness and contagious sense of hope. Says Lorenc, "Rob found fun and beauty in everything."
Memorial donations for Rob Suarez may be made to CEBES, the Christian Faith Community Organization in El Salvador, through Bellarmine College Preparatory. For more information, call Bellarmine at 294-9224.
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