Mr. Milbourne G. Willey

b.
d. probably about 1970

Temple University: M.A..

Head of Business Education Department, Shorthand, Accounting,
Co-Sponsor of the Junior Class of 1957 ('58)

 		 
"Mr. Willey and Mrs. Robinson, Junior Sponsors, leave after a busy day."      
1957 Anchor, p. 71 1959 Anchor, p. 46 Friday, April 19, 1963 Friday, April 10, 1964
Courtesy of Eleanor Buckley Nowitzky ('59)
of NC - 05/26/04
Thanks, Eleanor!		 Courtesy of Eleanor Buckley Nowitzky ('59)
of NC - 11/30/05
Thanks, Eleanor!		 Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64)
of VA - 02/24/08
Thanks, Dave!		 Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64)
of VA - 06/25/08
Thanks, Dave!
Helen Hudson Willey

Mrs. Helen Hudson Willey, 90, died Thursday, Aug. 9, 2001. A native of Kinsale, she had been a Newport News resident most of her life.

She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and Columbia University and retired in 1973 after 32 years of service as a supervisory mathematician for NASA. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Newport News, where she served on the board of directors of the foundation. Mrs. Willey was also a member of the District Council on Ministries, Peninsula District, United Methodist Church; Board of the Wesley Foundation, College of William and Mary; Board of United Campus Ministries, Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University; American Association of University Women, Newport News Branch; PEO, Chapter S; Homemakers, Warwick-on- the-James Chapter; Randolph-Macon Woman's College Alumnae Association, Hampton Roads Chapter; the United Methodist Women's Circle and was on the Official Board of the First United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Willey was preceded in death by her husband of 38 years, Milbourne G. Willey.

Survivors include her daughter, Page Willey Roberts and her husband, Don, of Newport News; son, Dr. John Boyd Willey and his wife, Maxine, of Winchester; five grandchildren, Sean Patrick Kelley of Crestline, Calif., Maureen McGuire Kelley Culbertson of Atlanta, Ga., Jennifer Page Willey Burks of Salisbury, N.C., Christopher Scott Willey of Bloomington, Ind. and Meredith Gordon Willey of Charlottesville; and four great- grandchildren, Chloe Elizabeth Burks, Ellyson Kay Burks, Charles Milbourne Kelley and Hugo St. Germain Kelley.

The family will receive friends from 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12, at Peninsula Funeral Home. A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday at First United Methodist Church by the Rev. John T. LeGault. Burial will follow in Peninsula Memorial Park.

Memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church Foundation, 10246 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA 23601.

Published in the Daily Press on 8/12/01.

Noticed you do not have (a page for) my home room teacher, Mr. Willey; hope that can be corrected.
He was one very nice man, but I never did have classes with him.

- Colin Faison ('58) of VA - 08/28/06
Thanks for the nudge, Colin!

Mr. Willey explained our goals for the shorthand course at the beginning of the school year. He said that everyone
would be able to achieve 100 words per minute, and many would reach 120 WPM. We learned and practiced
until all of us could write shorthand at 60 WPM and translate correctly, then 80 WPM, and on to 100 WPM just
as predicted. Because Mr. Willey said that many of us would be able to take shorthand as he dictated at 120 WPM,
we believed him. I was enticed by the challenge that I might be one of those, and sometimes I accomplished it.
It was exhilarating! 
 
At the end of the year, Mr. Willey elaborated on his teaching method. When he first began teaching shorthand,
he told the students that 80 WPM would be required in order to pass. Most class members reached 80 WPM,
but there were always some students who did not achieve the goal. It concerned Mr. Willey greatly that some students
 in each class failed, and he wondered how he could change the outcome. He said he was inspired to tell each class
that everyone in the class would be able to reach 100 WPM and some would reach 120 WPM. Every student reached
80 WPM easily and then achieved 100 WPM. The requirement to pass was actually 80 WPM, but in the students' minds
the goal was set for a higher level. As a result, all of the students passed every year.
 
My classmates and I had the same success. We kept striving for more because Mr. Willey had prepared us to reach
higher. Mr. Willey didn't tell us that the requirement was only 80 WPM until after we had surpassed that level.
 
Mr. Willey's teaching method has stayed with me. I tell this inspirational story often. I have used Mr. Willey's plan to help
myself and others.
 
- Eleanor Buckley Nowitzky ('59) - 08/28/06
Thanks so much, Eleanor!

Carol,

I noticed your sister's (Eleanor Buckley Nowitzky - '59 - of NC) comments about Mr. Willey. I well remember his class.
I struggled to get to 100 wpm but never made it to the 120. When I went to college I took another shorthand class and
did get the 120. When I visited NNHS a year or so after graduation, I made it a point to see Mr. Willey and proudly tell
him that I had finally been able to get 120 per minute and had gotten an "A" in my class. His comment was that if I hadn't
talked so much I could have gotten an "A" in his class and that I must not have a very good teacher in college!!

I can still remember the first paragraph Mr. Willey dictated. . ."No man is an island. . . ."

- Elizabeth Tedder Nunnally ('68) of VA - 08/28/06
Thanks, Elizabeth!

Dear Carol,
 
I also wanted to comment on the tribute to Mr. Willey from Eleanor (Buckley Nowitzky - '59 - of NC).  I don't remember
his telling us the story of how he motivated us, but I remember wanting to do well in his class, and I remember his
really pushing us to do better.  What a fantastic teacher.  Thanks so much, Eleanor, for sharing the memory.  I think
NNHS had some of the best teachers around.  We are very lucky people to have been inspired by people like him.
 
- Roberta Hilsdon ('70) of GA - 08/29/06
Thanks, Roberta!

Mrs. Willey's obituary added on 04/22/08

Back to Teachers

Return to NNHS Class of 1965