John, 50, was born in Portland, Oregon and raised in the suburb of Milwaukie. He is married and has three grown daughters.

The Man in Black
His edits, written in red ink, were all over my draft. It was the third time rewriting the article for my high school paper but it didn't bother me.

Being the fifth of six kids I was used to going unnoticed, but for some reason the paper's advisor noticed me; he seemed to believe in me. I was learning to write editorials and he was going to make sure I did it well.

I didn't realize until some years later he was my first mentor. He was the first non-family member in my life to make me feel like I was special – and yet he never said a word to that effect. His name was Brother LaSalle Bosong, a Christian Brother who wore a full-length black robe with a strange white collar that looked like two starched pages of a small book hanging around his neck.

I worked hard and was never fazed by rewriting and rewriting for him. Not once did he criticize my work, he simply whittled and tuned my words – often four or five cycles. I learned about writing from him, but more than that I found something I liked doing and that I was good at. My junior year I was named editor of the paper. Halfway through that year Brother LaSalle's mom fell ill and he went home to California to care for her. My skills had grown such that I ended up for the most part teaching the journalism class the rest of the year.

Ten years later, while visiting Los Angeles , I spent the night at the Christian Brothers' residence as a guest of one of the Brothers I had kept in touch with. I was sitting in their library late that evening when Brother LaSalle walked in. Not noticing me, he sat down to read. I introduced myself and, to my complete shock, he did not remember me. After we talked a bit he seemed to remember me (although I think he was being polite), yet even though he had a big impact on my life, I hardly stood out for him.

It would have been easy to be deeply disappointed. All the time I'd thought he was treating me special, but what I hadn't realized was that Brother LaSalle was simply a dedicated and superb teacher. In fact he was so good that when I told him what a huge impact he had had on my life, he was completely surprised. This man, it turned out -- I suspected -- had made a difference in many lives and he didn't even know it. I was special because I had been lucky enough to have him in my life.

I earned my bachelor's degree in Mass Communication/Journalism, and spent my first few years writing for papers before putting what I had learned to work in the world of business. Today I am a senior vice president of one of Oregon 's largest and most successful companies, Standard Insurance Company.

Looking back I recognize that there were a small number of people along the way who believed in me and contributed to my many successes. I am grateful to all of them, with particular fondness for the man in black who unknowingly touched my life and made it better.