Ben Guerra Belongs Among "Legendary" Educators

A recent article in this corner mentioned the first group of legendary educators honored at Andrew Warde High School. Fern Tetreau, the late Charles Abraham, and the late Jack Strauss were the initial recipients of the prestigious honor at the June 21st ceremony in the school's gymnasium. There were many educators whose influence on their students remains indelibly etched many years later. One of those teachers, I believe, who belongs among the "legendary" at Warde is the late Ben Guerra.

Mr. Guerra taught at Andrew Warde High School from 1958 until 1979, deciding to retire before Warde consolidated with Roger Ludlowe High School to form Fairfield High School at the Melville Avenue campus. "Oh, they were the best years of my life," he once told me. "I loved it. I always liked to work with kids and teenagers."

I thought about Mr. Guerra's inclusion on this list while searching through August newspaper archives for articles about Andrew Warde High School. According to an article which appeared in The Bridgeport Post dated Monday, August 29, 1966, "Andrew Warde has chosen Benjamin J. Guerra as the school's new director of student activities. Mr. Guerra plans to set up his office in the student activities office in order to make it easy for the students to contact him. He will be there after school and during the periods in which he isn't teaching."

According to the article, Mr. Guerra said, "The work of a teacher goes far beyond the walls of a classroom. It involves working with the students beyond the duties of academic work and fulfilling one's responsibilities in the community." Mr. Guerra was the adviser to the Andrew Warde chapter of the Future Teachers of America and the adviser of the Warde social committee. The 1963 Flame yearbook was dedicated to Mr. Guerra in recognition of his interest and participation in student activities.

"Academic work is not enough to develop the character of the student," he once said. "The activity program helps develop personality, social life, humanistic characteristics, and helps develop the student's ability to cooperate with each other. The success of the activity program partly depends on the development of the student's pride in his school." 

Mr. Guerra, who was born in New York but moved with his mother to Cuba at the age of two, returned to the United States when he was 27. Originally, he was a teacher in the Bridgeport school system, working with special education students at Longfellow School. He later moved to Harding High School before arriving at Warde. He began teaching at Andrew Warde shortly after the school opened in 1956, and it quickly became a second home for him for the next 21 years. 

Mr. Guerra met his wife while they both taught on Staten Island in New York. Later, they taught together in Madison, Connecticut. Margaret became a teacher at Oldfield School in Fairfield while Ben taught at Andrew Warde. Mr. Guerra was past president of the Council for Exceptional Children, a member of the Gaelic American Club, and a longtime parishioner of St. Pius X Parish in Fairfield, where he served on the Lay Advisory Board.

Ben Guerra was one of the most well-respected, dignified, and honorable gentleman this typist has ever met. We used to exchange handshakes and good wishes each Sunday at church. I will always admire Ben Guerra for the outstanding educator and wonderful person he was. He passed away December 6, 2010, in St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport. He will always be a "legendary" educator in my book.. 

Paul