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Scott Stephens
Plain Dealer Reporter
But Caskey hadn't lost the guy, who turned out to be Dick Griffin, then a member of Our Lady of the Wayside's board of directors. Griffin envisioned a similar kind of class for the agency's clients, and he asked Caskey to come to his office the next week and talk.
Six months later, Caskey launched the program as a six-week pilot. It was an immediate success and has continued ever since.
On this winter evening, Craig Breeden quietly composes an e-mail. Ron Dobrinski and Patty Culley huddle at another computer, engrossed in a spirited game of "Spin and Win." The cantankerous Graham is searching the Internet for information about commercial motor coaches, one of his many interests.
He has chosen the country and western tunes that fill the classroom this night.
"It's a balancing act," Caskey says later. "You try to keep everyone engaged."
Skill levels vary dramatically. For some, printing out a snowman or wreath for a wall decoration is a major accomplishment. For others, there are few boundaries.
One student, for instance, has apparently memorized a Web site that features home listings. Ask him what a three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,220-square-foot home on West 227th Street goes for, and he will give you a remarkably accurate quote - depending on whether it has air conditioning and a finished basement.
"You get a whole new appreciation of how this little computer works," says Caskey, pointing to his head.
What the class means in the lives of his students - and their families - has startled Caskey from time to time. Several years ago, a student named Reed died. At his funeral, Caskey was approached by Reed's younger sister, a Denver school teacher. She hugged him.
"He would e-mail his sister, and she'd e-mail him back," Caskey says. "She told me she found out more about her brother through those e-mails than she had ever known before."
Unfortunately, the woman had lost her brother's e-mails. But Caskey was able to retrieve the files, print them and send them to her.
He received a gracious thank-you note in return.
"It's gratifying," Caskey says. "They are exceptional people. I've learned far more from them than I could ever teach these guys."