Sometimes the drama of a real-life event helps to bring a dry concept to life.

This is National Teacher Appreciation Week, a topic that might evoke a yawn … until the memory or the encouragement of a particular teacher comes to mind.

This week also saw the death of much-loved and much-respected retired Mathews High School teacher Marion Grey Trusch. As the news got out on Sunday, Facebook lit up with her former students’ warm memories of the tough love with which she taught them government or typing or shorthand.

And several dozen of those former students, we have heard, stood up at her funeral on Tuesday, showing up on a workday to pay their final respects. All this for a woman who retired more than 30 years ago!

They had to get through her class to graduate, and most of those who passed those challenging sessions knew more about their country and the federal form of government than they could have envisioned at the start of their senior year. In short, she molded tho...