Born in 1921 of Serbian parents in Michigan City, Dan Rayshich grew up in the rough and tumble world of Northwestern Indiana. Upon graduation from school, he became an apprentice tool and die maker and spent the next 20 years applying his trade in the steel mills of Gary Indiana.

After 20 years, Dan felt the call to teach and returned to school. He graduated from Purdue University in 1962 with a masters in education.

His first two years of teaching were in the inter-city schools of Gary and were in his words "extremely difficult." Disillusioned with the Gary school system, Dan looked for teaching opportunities elsewhere for his third year of teaching.

Fortunately for us, he found WLWHS and started in the fall of 1965. He quickly found an eager audience for his teaching. Within two short years, the quality of students Dan was turning out caught the notice of the GM plants in Anderson. Later, other industries in the area also took notice as well. They started donating state of the art equipment and money to the WLWHS machine shop class which quickly became one of the best equipped school shops anywhere in the country. This eventually grew into a separate Machine Trades school now located in the old Triangle Tool building on North Anderson Street in Elwood and named after Dan.

Dan never married, claiming that his students were his family. When you were one of his students, you quickly learned how true this was and how much he cared about you. Projects in his classes were always complex and often required many hours after school to complete.  You never minded though because he was always there to provide direction or lend a helping hand.

Over the years Dan had many accomplishments and received many honors. He was the Indiana Teacher of the year in 1980 and was also given the Sagamore of the Wabash citation by then governor, Otis Bowen. He was asked to address the Indiana State Legislature on the importance of educating our youth and was the author of three textbooks on machine trades.

Perhaps the greatest honor was bestowed on Dan at his retirement dinner in 1987 when  students from all of his years at WLWHS returned to show their appreciation and honor his accomplishments.

Dan passed away in 1989 but the seeds of education and caring that he planted during his years at WLWHS will continue to grow for years to come. He was truly an outstanding man and teacher.

Photo and text by Rick Rodgers (1967)