Ex-pupils call missing Warr Acres teacher John Knol inspiring

Johnny Johnson

Aug. 21, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- WARR ACRES -- Former students of a missing ninth-grade history teacher said the Putnam City High School freshmen who had a substitute teacher on their first day of school Thursday don't know what they're missing.

And one former student, who described "Mr. Knol" as her surrogate father, said she's worried those students may never know.

"I'm not entirely sure we're ever going to see him again," said Crane Billingsley, 20, a Fort Worth, Texas, resident who said she would not have graduated without Knol's guidance.

Those who know him say John Michael Knol, 59, is the kind of teacher who if asked, would sponsor an anime club even though he had no particular interest in Japanese animation.

The teacher has been missing since last week, when he left a teacher gathering early because he wasn't feeling well.

Searchers later found his car parked in front of his house and the house's front door open with the keys in the lock. Family members searched part of the dense woods on his three-acre property but found no trace of him.

Police have found no signs of foul play.

Putnam City schools spokesman Steve Lindley said a few students asked the principal about Knol.

"All we can tell them at this point is that we simply don't know where Mr. Knol is, and that we hope he's OK," Lindley said.

Billingsley said she began a special friendship with Knol when she was in the seventh grade, and the relationship continued until he disappeared.

"I was probably the closest person in the world to him," she said, describing their relationship as both a father-daughter love as well as mentor-student-type admiration.

Billingsley is holding out hope that Knol left on his own accord.

"He was an incredible man, but he was also a very strange man," she said. "And it wouldn't surprise me at all if he just decided to suddenly go start something new," referring to a time in his life when he lived the life of a hermit on a mountain in California.

The fact that Knol's cell phone was turned off wasn't troubling to Billingsley, because she said he tried to live a primitive life and never turned it on unless he needed it.

What was troubling to her is that police said Knol apparently left his pet Labrador retrievers at his home unattended.

"He loved teaching, but he was obsessed with his dogs," she said.

Other former students said Knol was an inspiring but sometimes unconventional teacher who tended to take a special interest in students on the fringes.

"He's an amazing teacher," said former student Tyler McGill. "He was practically my best friend in high school. I could talk to him about anything. He was like my second father. He was like that to a lot of students."

In class, McGill said, discussions would stray from the core curriculum and Knol would simply engage in a frank discussion with his students "just about life in general."

"I learned more in his class than all of my other high school classes combined," McGill said.

"He's such an asset at that school," Billingsley said. "There are students there who need him. But wherever he is, I just hope he's OK."

Contributing: Jesse Olivarez, Staff Writer

Newstex ID: KRTB-0148-37386419