Tom Yore brought history alive to thousands of Chicago-area high school students with his knowledge, wit and skills as a storyteller.
The longtime Lake Forest resident could reel in even the most disengaged student with little-known facts and interesting anecdotes about historical people and events that triggered lively discussions and helped put the past in perspective, according to those who saw him work.
“He was simply the best,” said Tamaria Crider, a 1997 graduate of Larkin High School in Elgin and a history teacher at Truman Middle College, an alternative high school in Chicago. “He was such a great teacher, so interesting and dynamic. He showed us how events of the past have shaped our lives today.
“Besides my mom, he’s probably the biggest reason I became a teacher.”
Mr. Yore, 79, who also coached high school basketball, softball and golf, died of cancer Friday, April 10, in his Lake Forest home, his family said.
Mr. Yore was known for his brightly colored wardrobe that included Madras plaid pants, and when not in the classroom, an assortment of hats that he wore tightly pulled down over his ears.
“I remember walking through shopping malls as a kid and noticing people staring at what he was wearing, but it didn’t seem to bother him,” said his son, Thomas. “When it came to clothes, he was in his own little world.”
The eldest of seven children, Mr. Yore was born and raised in Lake Forest, where his family had lived since the mid-1800s. A graduate of Lake Forest High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Lake Forest College before becoming a teacher at Jack Benny Middle School in Waukegan.
From 1958 to 1960, Mr. Yore served in the Army, assigned to the same military base in West Germany where Elvis Presley was stationed, his son said.
“He remembered Elvis as being just another soldier treated like everyone else, no better or worse,” his son said.
Following his military discharge, Mr. Yore taught at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, before becoming a teacher and coach at Gordon Technical High School on Chicago’s North Side. There he began teaching history and also coached basketball under Dick Versace, who went on to coach in the NBA and work as a team president and league executive.
“He learned a lot from Versace, particularly on how to put your players through drills to build a winning team,” his son. “They always played to packed houses.”
During the 1970s, Mr. Yore also taught and coached at Weber High School on the Northwest Side, before joining the faculties at Streamwood High School, and later Larkin High School in Elgin, where he retired in 2003.
“The thing about Tom is that he gave his all to everything — teaching, coaching or just sitting and talking with a student,” said former colleague Pat Wilson, a social studies teacher and coach at Larkin. “He was one of those guys that always left you smiling and feeling just a little bit smarter for having talked with him.”
Mr. Yore also is survived by two daughters, Kyle and Anne; a brother, Christopher; and three sisters, Gertrude Hart, Kathleen Daly and Frances Killgoar.
Private services were held.
Giangrasse Kates is a freelance reporter.
