School dedicates poetry corner

Photo: Leslie Dixon, Sun Media Wire

Paris Elementary School Principal Jane Fahey, left, presented Fred Schwaner's widow Rose and his sisters Joan Deans and Adele Charity the plaque that will hang in the newly dedicated Fred Schwaner Poetry Corner at the school.

PARIS — School officials, staff and students dedicated the Fred Schwaner Poetry Corner in the school library Wednesday in honor of the longtime teacher and poet who passed away last summer.

Sasha Pollard, a fifth-grade student at Paris Elementary School, who never met Fred Schwaner, felt compelled to write a poem about him to read at the dedication Wednesday of the Fred Schwaner Poetry Corner at the school. She presented the poem to Schwaner's sister Joan Deans.

Doug Hoy, a teacher at the Paris Elementary School, read a poem written by his colleaque Fred Schwaner that reminded people simply to "lighten up." Hoy told attendees at Wednesday's poetry corner dediation at the Paris Elementary School that it is great advise for everyone.

“His poetry was always unexpected, unique and valued,” Principal Jane Fahey said of Schwaner's dedication to writing humorous, fun or serious poems, ranging from a piece about the local sewer cat to a poem advising everyone to “lighten up.”

“We hope it will inspire children to discover their own poetic voice,” Fahey said.

Schwaner, a sixth-grade teacher at Paris Elementary School and an educator in the Oxford Hills School District for 38 years, passed away last July at his Hebron home after courageously battling cancer. He was 59.