Sometimes you think you know someone, but actually donโt know that person at all. Meet Jim OโConnor, a 70-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War who now works as an algebra and calculus teacher at St. Francis High School in California.
The army veteran is known to be respected across his students, and he is usually quite strict in his lessons. He thinks school isnโt meant to be fun, and he uses his watchful gaze and authoritative voice to give very no-nonsense lessons in his classroom. When a CBS reporter asks his students if they would associate the word โloveโ to Jim, theyโre absolutely surprised by the suggestion and wouldnโt seem to call Jim an affectionate person at all.
โIf you have a class full of 32 teenage boys, you better have some discipline,โ the vet told to TODAY. โIf you donโt have control of the class, you donโt have a learning environment.โ
Jim has been known in school as the strict and tough teacher, but that opinion of him completely changed when one senior found out he had an alter ego after school hours.
The student recently went to the Childrenโs Hospital in Los Angeles, and when he told an employee where he was studying, he was asked if he knew Jim OโConnor. He then heard that his math teacher was a โTLC volunteerโ at the hospital and even spotted the ranking of all the blood donors. Jim Oโ Connor was steadily on top.
The man first came into contact with the hospital when he was pursued by a friend to donate blood. Jim has Type O negative blood, which is considered to be a universal donor. Over the years, Jim became the top donor in the hospital and returned frequently to donate both blood and platelets. In total, Jim has donated around 72 gallons of his blood so far.
While he was visiting the hospital to donate blood, he noticed that there were volunteers at the hospital who were helping sick children.
It didnโt take long before Jim asked one of the staff members how he could help.
Jim isnโt married and doesnโt have any children of his own, but he was more than willing to provide some attention and love to the ill kids in the hospital. Three days in a week, Jim can be found in the hospital caressing, cuddling and comforting the babies as best as he can.
โHe holds them, feeds them, walks around with them, gets to know them and he can always coax a smile out of them,โ Sherry Nolan, clinical manager of the medical unit at Childrenโs Hospital Los Angeles said. โThey just stare at him adoringly and he can really just get the crabbiest baby to calm down. Itโs amazingโฆ Heโs just a natural-born cuddler.โ
โTheyโre beautiful; theyโre just dependent on people. They can do no wrong,โ Jim said about the babies in the hospital.
He especially likes taking care of babies who donโt get a lot of visits and need the attention the most.
โThe kids who have nobody, those are the ones who obviously need volunteers a lot,โ he said. โThey just want to be held by somebody.โ
The staff at the hospital canโt praise him enough.
โJim is invaluable to us,โ Erin Schmidt said. โI canโt image working without him,โ Sherry Nolan added. โWe really do depend on him.โ
In an interview, a CBS reporter funnily told him that heโs actually not a tough guy.
โI know [Iโm not a tough guy],โ he said. โBut donโt tell my students.โ
What an amazing man!
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