Obituary: Celebration of life planned for beloved Costa Mesa educator Buzz Amble
College Park Elementary School teacher Buzz Amble was so beloved that 12 years after his 2001 retirement — and an “Aloha party” attended by hundreds of staff and students from across decades — friends hosted another get-together in his honor.
They simply wanted to see how he was doing and reminisce once more about their shared time together, so in 2013 they organized a huge surprise party at the Costa Mesa campus where he’d taught fifth grade for the better part of 30 years.
“He was the most popular teacher ever. He was just there for everybody,” recalled longtime friend and former College Park librarian Gay Royer. “All children were special to him. I can’t tell you how many kids became teachers because of him.”
Amble, who lived in Costa Mesa with his wife, Bird, a retired kindergarten teacher, died Sept. 7 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 80 years old.
Next weekend, those who knew and loved the educator will have one more chance to commemorate the life and teachings of “Mr. Amble” during a celebration of life at College Park Oct. 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Speaking with the Pilot, students recalled Amble as an unforgettable influence, gifted at reaching students on a level that made them feel heard, seen and respected, no matter where they came from or whatever their struggles.
“He was able to find a piece of me that I didn’t know I had and bring it to light,” said Bryan Rice, 43, who teaches economics and math at Tustin High School. “It helped me find myself at a very young age. I always thought Mr. Amble was special to me, because I was special to him.”
“He inspired me to believe in myself in a way no adult was able to do before him,” said Roberto Jara, a fifth-grader in 1973-74 whom Amble jokingly called Roburpo. “From him I inherited a love for learning, reading, history, rock music, caring for the environment and how to enjoy life. He was certainly a light unlike any other person I have ever known.”
Born on May 30, 1944, in Grand Rapids, Minn. to dairy farmers from Wisconsin, George David Amble grew up in idyllic surroundings, scouting around the headwaters of the Mississippi River and fishing after school like a modern day Huckleberry Finn, according to an obituary compiled by Royer’s daughter, Love Hertel.
Amble was bestowed with the nickname “Buzz” by his older sister who, unable to call him baby brother, would say “baby buzzer,” said Bird Amble, his wife of 46 years.
More interested in sports and extracurricular activities as a student than in the academic standards, Amble sought a teaching credential through Minnesota’s Bemidji State University, where he discovered his calling.
“I found out I loved it,” he told the Daily Pilot in 2001. “I loved children. And I just came out [to California from Minnesota] for a year in 1964.”
He and a friend wanted to see the Pacific Ocean but ended up in the town of Wasco, northwest of Bakersfield, where Amble taught the children of migrant farm workers.
“Kids and parents came to his apartment to learn spelling,” Bird Amble recalled. “When it came time for the district spelling bee, the kids were there, all dressed up. And they beat everybody in the whole district, including the GATE kids.
“And Buzz always remembered the winning word by the winning child,” she continued. “He made school fun, and the kids never forgot it.”
Kirk Baumeister, 64, remembered being a student in the class next door to Amble’s in the early 1970s and quickly befriending the teacher, who coached the basketball team and tagged him as captain.
“I tell people I was kind of a jerk in elementary school, but he saw leadership qualities in me,” recalled Bauermeister, who retired from Newport-Mesa Unified School District after 26 years as a teacher and administrator. “Having somebody outside of your family see those qualities in you means a lot.”
Bauermeister now teaches an introduction to education class at Vanguard University, where he asks prospective teachers to envision the qualities of their favorite teachers.
“For me, that teacher was Buzz Amble,” he said Tuesday. “He and Birdie didn’t have their own kids — that’s what all their students were [for them].”
Quick with a joke and known for displaying maps all over the walls and tending to a zoo of classroom pets, Amble famously read “Where the Red Fern Grows” with students every year, gifting copies as classroom prizes to top students.
Rice said Mr. Amble is a big part of why he’s a teacher today.
“The humility I try to have with my kids, the shrugging off a bad day, ‘we’ll get it tomorrow’ mentality — I want to be that type of teacher,” he said. “Because in the world we’re living in, we need more Mr. Ambles.”
The retired teacher was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 and stayed physically fit as long as he could, said Bird, who was his caregiver and “loved every minute of it.”
“It meant the world to me to honor him that way because he was my person,” she said. “We were like best friends forever. We just had the best time everywhere.”
A celebration of life for Buzz Amble takes place Oct. 26 in the multipurpose room of College Park Elementary School, 2380 Notre Dame Road, in Costa Mesa. Donations may be made in his memory to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, benefiting Parkinson’s research.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
