ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? TOM BACKER RECALLS THREE “TOURS OF DUTY” AT COVINGTON LATIN SCHOOL By Andy Schoettker ’77
Dr. Tom Backer grew up in a small town in southwestern Indiana and went to Xavier and then to UC for a Ph.D. in history. While there he applied for a part time teaching position at Latin School because teaching assistants at UC were not paid very well. Fr. Heile, the Dean, hired him as Headmaster Fr. Arbogast was out of town. That was 1969. He went to Paris to do research for his dissertation and met his wife Pam, a Los Angelean who was studying French at the Sorbonne. Upon returning he taught history full time at Latin School until 1985. He taught in Kenya and Los Angeles until Andy Barczak became Headmaster in 2001 and brought him back to Latin School to teach history once again. He taught full time for ten years and then part time for four before retiring.
Dr. Backer has this to say about his three tours of duty at CLS: “CLS is a great place to teach. The best. Out of the many wonderful memories, the one that stands out is the rafting trip down the Colorado
An interview with Dr. Tom Backer River organized by Fr. Arbogast in the summer of 1970 and especially the Lava Falls rapids where our twenty-foot raft went vertical down into a vast hole in the water and then bumped and went vertical out of it as it shot out of the water. The students at Latin School continually impressed me, especially in the costumes and projects for Ancient and Medieval Days.”
In his spare time, he enjoys art and writing having taken art classes at Baker Hunt and writing classes at NKU, writing short stories, poems, a novel and a play. He has published a poem and two short stories. He and Pam have four children. His daughter, Heather, taught first grade until she started having children. His son, Matt, teaches art history in Houston. Megan does social work in Berea, Kentucky, 5
and nurtures a son. Hank ‘04 is married to Melinda (Borchers), a CLS classmate, and teaches poetry at the University of Tennessee.
Tom lives in Erlanger and takes care of eleven fruit trees and a vegetable garden and enjoys seeing his kids and grandchildren. He belongs to two Bible study groups at St. Barbara Church and has spent many years working with St. Vincent de Paul.
