Teacher was strong on moral lessons

How cruelly ironic that the article "Health benefits for dead people" [News, Jan. 20] mentioned P.J. McCray as one of the deceased former teachers for whom the school district was paying insurance premiums for 11 years after he died.

I was lucky enough to have had Paul McCray as my 12th-grade English teacher at Long Beach High School in 1966-67. He was among the finest teachers I've had in my lifetime, and one of the attributes about Mr. McCray that made him outstanding was how hard (and successfully) he worked to teach social consciousness and moral responsibility to his students.

He challenged us with thought-provoking moral questions and moderated difficult class discussions on ethics and principle. I'm sure it would disturb him to see his name, albeit through no fault of his own, connected with careless use of taxpayer dollars.

Judith Lefkowitz Simon

Stony Brook