Libertyville teacher remembered for wit
A loud, "boisterous" laugh echoes in the memories of friends and family of Barb Gwin, an English teacher at Libertyville High School.
Gwin, 50, passed away Tuesday due to complications from diabetes.
Caitlin Bees, who was in Gwin's literature class four years ago, described her laugh as infectious. Gwin's co-workers and former students consistently pointed to her laugh and wit as defining characteristics.
"She was a very loving teacher and incredibly funny," said Amanda Dayton-Nehring, a former student of Gwin's. "She had this laugh that was kind of explosive. Even if what she said wasn't funny, when she started to laugh, everyone else laughed."
Gwin had worked in Libertyville-Vernon Hills High School District 128 since 1984. While she taught at Libertyville High School, her son Matthew attends Vernon Hills High School, in the same district.
After 25 years of teaching, she still loved her job and formed connections with her students.
"The classes that she taught each year were better than the last," her husband, Jeffrey Gwin, said. "She really enjoyed teaching, she really enjoyed bringing out the creativity (in her students.)"
Mary Price, who taught social studies at Libertyville High School, remembers Gwin's dedication to her students and her ability to bring out that creativity in them.
"I knew how to teach them to write for social studies and I thought that the literary part of it you either had it or you didn't," Price said. "A lot of her students had it and I know she cultivated that."
The bonds she built with students would sometimes stretch beyond the classroom. Dayton-Nehring said her mother was killed in a car accident the year she took Barb Gwin's creative writing class, and she would always check in to make sure everything was all right.
"Now I am a teacher in Island Lake and I hope to be half the teacher she was," Dayton-Nehring said.
A wake will be held for Barb Gwin on Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Matz Funeral Home, 410 E. Rand Road in Mount Prospect. The funeral is set for Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Pascal Church, 6143 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago. Burial follows at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.