Finally, for the holiday season, an animated story from our partners at StoryCorps.

In 1958, when John Critt's mother died, his third grade teacher made a small act of kindness

that meant a great deal to him.

Decades later, he sat down with Cecil Doyle to tell her how that gesture changed his life,

and in the process made a difference in her life as well.

We talked about decorating the Christmas tree when I came home from school that day,

but I walked into the living room, and my aunt was there, and she said, well, honey,

Mommy passed away this morning. And I remember at my mother's wake,

someone in my family came to me and said,

Johnny, your teacher's here.

When I found out she died,

I could certainly relate to that

because when I was 11, my own father died.

And you just don't know how you're going to go on

without that person.

When I returned to school, you waited until the other children left the room at the end of the

day, and you told me that you were there if I needed you, and you bent over and kissed me on the

head. It was really the only time someone said to me, I know what you're feeling, and I know what

you're missing. And I felt in a very

real way that things really would be okay. Well, John, I really loved you as a student and I'm so

glad that I could be there with you for that time. Many years later, when I became a teacher, I started to think more and more about you.

And I started to think to myself, here I am with a memory of a teacher who changed my life.

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