A life changer.
Former longtime Columbus East High School drama and speech teacher and auditorium director Ray Le Blanc, who died Saturday in Florida at age 83, is being remembered as a powerful, passionate mentor by former students, many of whom have gone on to theatrical and related field success.
Le Blanc taught at East from 1974 to 1995. The final show he directed in March 1995 was “The Sound of Music.”
He was a Mayor’s Arts Award Winner that year for his work. The Indiana Theater Association named him Teacher of the Year in 1993, and President Bill Clinton honored him as one of the nation’s Distinguished Teachers in 1993.
“You are fortunate if you can find a career where you can make a good living doing something you love,” Le Blanc told The Republic before the local Mayor’s Arts Award ceremony in 1995.
His sacrificial love for his students took on near-legendary proportions on Facebook over the weekend, as former theater students posted stories of him personally driving them to college visits, to theater conferences and more — and encouraging them long after their years at East.
He was an actor himself, playing the role of Fagin in 1978 in a then-Mill Race Players production of “Oliver” that local thespians still discuss.
Kevin Welsh, East’s current auditorium manager and drama teacher, said nearly four years ago when he was hired for the post that he was back at the school because of Le Blanc’s influence. He majored in theater in college because of Le Blanc.
“He was one of those people who could get excellence out of people who maybe didn’t even know it was in them,” Welsh said.
Welsh visited Le Blanc last summer at an assisted-living apartment where Le Blanc lived in Leesburg, Florida. The retired teacher remained active in theater there, spending time directing and in theater design.
Columbus East announced Monday afternoon that it was launching a scholarship fund in Le Blanc’s name. The scholarship will be given to an East senior who will either major or minor in theater, and it will be administered through the Bartholomew County School Foundation, Welsh said.
East graduate Phil Bond has praised Le Blanc’s work since his days as a student, calling Le Blanc’s influence on him life-altering.
Bond, founder of the production company Above Deck Entertainment in New York, is also former director of programming at the well-known Feinstein’s/54 Below that hosts top national singing talent, including Broadway stars.
“In all things, I think we just wanted to make him proud of us,” Bond said. “I’m still trying to do that — to live up to the standards he set and what he expected of us. I will never be able to repay what he instilled in me. All I can do is be grateful for this extraordinary man.”
East graduate and local resident Mark Owens, active in Columbus and regional theater for years and also a retired drama and social studies teacher, characterized Le Blanc’s impact dramatically.
“Ray was a father to many of us,” Owens said.
Le Blanc served as a groomsman in Owens’ wedding a few years ago “and helped me through many situations in my life. This man was very important to me.”
Also, Le Blanc was known for his fiery ways when he thought students were not giving their best.
He sometimes would fume at them just days before an opening night. And, minutes later, away from the students, he would chuckle at himself — especially when he told them he perhaps should remove his name from the show’s program about to be printed — and quietly acknowledge that he knew they could do better.
Later, more often than not, he would say that his cast members stepped up their performance.
East graduate and Columbus resident Jill Tasker has done professional theater through the years, local theater and also appeared on TV.
“I still use everything he taught me,” Tasker said.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete as of press time.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Ray Le Blanc” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Age: 83
Born: New Orleans, Louisiana.
Died: Leesburg, Florida.
Local connection: Primarily drama teacher at Columbus East High School from 1974 to 1995. Also school auditorium director most of that time.
Education: Bachelor of Arts in theater and speech from Louisiana State University; Master of Arts from Texas Christian University; Master of Arts for teacher’s degree from Indiana University.
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