AMERICAN DREAM – A SALUTE TO THE LATE DR. SALVATORE LEOPOLD RASPA

AMERICAN DREAM

A SALUTE TO THE LATE DR. SALVATORE LEOPOLD RASPA

BY KEN ROSSIGNOL
THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY

As a neighbor living next door to a midnight scene of a triple murder, Sal Raspa was quick on his feet and quick to grab his .38 when a knock came on his door as sirens screamed towards the home of his young family on Midway Drive in Lexington Park. Answering the door, Sal learned that a man was shepherding three young children who had fled the ghastly homicide house immediately next door, and Myra scooped them up and gave them the sanctuary of their home as police tried to gain control over what had unfolded.
As a high school administrator, Sal heard loud laughter and an uproar from a Great Mills High School classroom. Entering the art class of teacher George Hopkins, he saw the source of the entertainment was “Hoppy” illustrating the art of painting with two big straws stuck up his nose and blowing paint on a canvas. Hopkins loved his teaching so much that he left his estate to fund annual scholarships for St. Mary’s County students. He was one of Sal’s best friends and agents in education, laughter, and community service till he died. Hoppy helped hold down the “table” in Linda’s Café, their gathering place in Lexington Park. The owner, Linda Palchinsky, was a Great Mills High School graduate and student of Dr. Sal Raspa. She still runs the restaurant she started in 1988 and moved to a new location this year. Until six weeks ago, Sal went to Lindas every Wednesday for the Meat Loaf special.

Beginning as a science, chemistry, and math teacher in the St. Mary’s Public Schools, Sal Raspa jumped into the ranks of administration when the St. Mary’s County Board of Education appointed him as the Vice Principal of Great Mills High School in June of 1968. Sal was equipped with a Bachelor of Science Degree from Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and continued his work for graduate work at George Washington University and the University of Maryland.
When Sal was appointed vice-principal, he and Myra had raised five children at that point. More arrived later. Many community activities would find Sal to be a participant over the years, including the Jaycees and the Lions of Lexington Park; however, many would see his service as a Radiological Monitor for St. Mary’s County as a surprise. Being a vice principal was hazardous at times when, in 1972, a brawl escalated to a stabbing, and one of the participants gave Raspa a shove as he attempted to break up the fight at Great Mills High School on Dec. 14, 1971. Raspa later testified in court that brawlers were all around him, and he saw one student with a knife during the stabbing. One student was convicted of assaulting Raspa. The fight had been pre-planned, and all of the students brought knives to school.
It was 1976 when Raspa became a Doctor of Education after many long hours in the evenings after school, traveling to George Washington University.

Sal Raspa was very protective of his students and school and often pointed out that the building belonged to him under the law, and it was his responsibility to keep order and banish interlopers. In 1977, Raspa brought deputies to the regular duty of keeping the outside premises free from crime and trespassers. Raspa told reporter Jack Kershaw that people were coming on the school grounds during school hours, stealing from automobiles, and selling dope. Raspa said the deputies were not needed inside the school but outside to protect his 1,665 students.
By 1980, Sal Raspa was working with school board officials to design a new auditorium to complement the existing one at Great Mills High School. Raspa wanted an addition with eleven more classrooms instead, though the small auditorium could be designed to accommodate multiple classrooms. Myra was starting classes at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and working shifts as a dining room manager at the Belvedere. Scott Raspa’s first job was working in the kitchen at the restaurant owned by Betty and Larry Millison.

As the years passed, and serving as the transportation director for the public schools, Dr. Sal Raspa was tasked with making the trains run on time. The trains, being one unit-individual yellow tubes running the backroads, lanes, and highways of St. Mary’s County, Sal decided the best way to attract the attention of motorists who had been increasingly passing school buses stopped to load and unload students was to organize a bus caravan. Dr. Raspa solicited assistance from the Maryland State Police. With a few dozen buses, the caravan traveled a county circuit, making stops and appealing to the public to observe the stop signs and signals featured on school buses.

While Sal and Myra cruised a few times after retirement, Sal Raspa found time to expose his comedic and dramatic side when, along with his pal Alan Brylawski, he appeared in a 1963 comedy production of the Women’s Club of St. Mary’s County, “Luxury Cruise.” The play featured many notable citizens with an extra role for Sal as that of stage manager was held at Great Mills High School, and funds were raised for Crippled Children, the Society for Mentally Retarded, and the St. Mary’s County Scholarship Fund.
In 1967, a notice from St. Mary’s Hospital was published announcing the arrival of an unnamed son on February 5 to Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore Leopold Raspa. History shows that the Raspas finally decided on a name.

Myra and Sal Raspa were industrious at feeding their family of six children on an educator’s salary. Sal began repairing refrigeration equipment, and in the eighties, they began raising tobacco on their twenty-seven-acre leased farm. Myra is a regular Annie Oakley, being raised on a farm in Tennessee where her father’s shotgun was no deterrent to courting by Sal.

Myra’s farming experience dealt with cattle, and she never saw tobacco. Sal applied his scientific background to experimenting with various ways to cultivate and cure tobacco to increase the yield of both the leaf and the price paid by buyers. Sal brought to the family’s Maryland farm an adaptation of machinery used in the South that hopefully would make the process less labor-intensive. The Raspas involved the entire family in the tobacco business, with each child investing work in the intensive process and sharing in the profits derived from the farm on rented fields at St. Richard’s Manor near the Patuxent River. In one published report, Myra explained that starting the farm was designed to be something that could keep the entire family involved, and Sal said that his work as an educator dealt with so many families that were torn apart and everyone going in their own direction. In that look into the Raspa farm, Myra was driving the tractor while Scott, Victor, Joe, and Angela rode on the planter. Sal Jr. and Anthony walked behind, ensuring the plants were inserted in the ground.

The first time Dr. Sal Raspa was publicly announced as a possible school superintendent was in 1977, when Dr. Robert King retired. Those who were considered included Marvin Joy, the supervisor of instruction; Henry Kanowitz, the director of finance; Dr. James McLeaf, director of guidance; Jayne Sullivan, principal of Leonardtown Elementary; Dr. Julius Levay, principal of Great Mills High School and Dr. Sal Raspa, the vice principal of Great Mills High School.

Sal and Myra saw all of their children through the St. Mary’s Public Schools, with Victor Raspa winding up playing football while taking the ribbing from his fellow students at being the principal’s son. Vic Raspa began following his father’s footsteps in weightlifting, which served him well in high school as he started lifting weights in fifth grade. Scholarship was important in the Raspa home, and Vic maintained a 3.5 grade average and membership in the National Honor Society while wrestling and playing football. As a junior at Great Mills in 1984, Vic had his eye on a scholarship and hoped to be able to get to the United States Naval Academy. Victor achieved his goal and became a Navy pilot upon graduation from Annapolis.
When Victor was studying at Annapolis, he often brought home fellow midshipmen during holidays who needed a nearby place to stay. Sal and Myra frequently hosted a half-dozen Vic’s pals for a weekend.

In September of 1986, the death of St. Mary’s County Commissioner Dick Arnold brought a new task for Sal Raspa as he was an elected member of the St. Mary’s County Democratic Central Committee. It was up to that panel to make a recommendation to Gov. Harry Hughes to appoint a replacement, and the stars, sun, and moon were aligned to give the job to Eddie Bailey.
1989 was a challenging year for the Raspa family when Joe, at the age of 27, died in a hospital in Davenport, Iowa, on August 2, 1989, where he was studying to become a chiropractor at the Palmer School of Chiropractic. Joe graduated from St. Mary’s College. Joe was an accomplished musician and percussionist with the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Wind Ensemble and the St. Mary’s College Christian Fellowship and was in the Great Mills High School band.
Music was a passion of the entire family. Only Sal Raspa never publicly performed at Great Mills with his accordion, which could have sold out the auditorium.

Angie Raspa was a music and communications major at Goucher College and performed with the Towson State Orchestra and Towson Symphonics. She has also performed with quintets from Peabody Conservatory and members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She is also a dog whisperer, excelling at bringing out the best in canine friends.
By 1990, Dr. Sal Raspa had become supervisor of science instruction in the St. Mary’s Public Schools. Raspa was also selected to serve on a statewide committee, one educator from each county, representing the Maryland Association of Counties in making recommendations to the General Assembly regarding important school needs.

In June of 1990, Ensign Victor Raspa graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was assigned to the Pensacola Naval Air Station for flight school. Vic was appointed to the Naval Academy by Great Mills High graduate, Congressman Roy Dyson.
After obtaining her degree, Myra Raspa became an educator with the family business, working as a media advisor and leading the publications class at Leonardtown High School. In 1990, Myra’s class put together a historical collection of the history of the St. Mary’s County Fair inspired by Fair President John Richards.

By 1996, the first elected school board was in office when Sen. Roy Dyson’s bill to replace the process of having school board members appointed by the governor was passed in the General Assembly. On this board were some of the most feckless politicians in the history of the county, including Mary Washington, who is still on the Board of Education – pushing three decades of being on the policy-making panel. Julie Randall and Mike Hewitt were also posing and posturing at meetings, preening for the time when they could run for county commissioner, which both later did. In 1998, Raspa was the school transportation chief and was left with an underfunded system, mismanaged by his predecessor and over 200 special needs students added to the daily bus demand, adding 84,000 miles to the cost of student transportation.

Sal Raspa was a contender for appointment as Superintendent of Schools in St. Mary’s in 1997. A family friend, Danny Grosso, wrote a recommendation letter to the school board and stated in his capacity as a counselor at Great Mills High School that he was in a unique position to provide a clear view of Dr. Salvatore Leopold Raspa.

Raspa has always been respected by students, admired by educators
“Sal was my assistant principal and, later, my principal. With his leadership, we had real teamwork and excellent rapport with the students and teachers, not to mention parents and community.
I knew Dr. Raspa’s family intimately and often saw them interacting with students and educators. In a spirit of total fairness, Dr. Raspa has always been respected by students and loved and admired by teachers, fellow educators, and administrators. Parents and families loved, admired, and looked up to him.
He was always firm and dedicated, yet in his interrelationships, he seemed easygoing, respectful, relaxed, warm, understanding, and full of empathy and love.
But, again, if there was a job to be done, it was done well, with no digression.
I remember Sal and his family in my early Great Mills High School days. They became involved in tobacco crops. Many a day, I visited them in the tobacco fields, after school hours, on holidays, and in the summer, Sal was an administrator at Great Mills High; Myra was caring for the young family and studying simultaneously; all of the children were involved in school activities; all were band members (one of the best forms of training for working together as a team, cooperating, socializing, and looking out for the other person, as well as a source of self-development in a wonderful art).
After school, the entire family was in the tobacco field, each with a specific, dedicated task – and they worked very hard. Dinner at home followed, with everyone carrying out a task: table preparation and serving. After dinner followed homework, studies, and education’s obligations,
All arose early the next day and were off to school and further educational obligations.
This was and is a family well disciplined, well-behaved, respected, and loved.
Myra is now finishing her studies for an advanced degree in education. She is also working as a writing resource instruction teacher in the St. Mary’s public school system and working on an outline for a book for children.
Sal Raspa Jr, after military training in nuclear physics, is working at the nuclear power plant in Calvert County, and is raising a family, imitating his dad.
Angela Raspa, after graduating from Goucher College, completed her musical degree at Peabody in Baltimore, with high honors and performance (many of which I have attended). She has an administrative job with a graphics company in California.
Joe Raspa passed away shortly before completing his degree at Palmer College. His early demise was a real tragedy for all.
Scott Raspa worked for a number of years at IBM, training others and traveling all over the world. He now represents the same graphic company that his sister Angela represents in California
Vic Raspa graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He is now a Navy Lieutenant helicopter pilot. After years of duty in the Gulf, the Mediterranean, and the Adriatic, piloting a top state-of-the-art helicopter, Lt. Raspa has been sent for further training at Pensacola, Fla., in preparation for “top gun instructor” training future helicopter pilots.
Anthony Raspa, after graduation from St. Mary’s College, moved to Myra’s home territory in Tennessee, representing a gemology company. He is also raising a family, Dr. Raspa style.
All of these characteristics, degrees, and careers are due to the educational orientation of a superb educator, Dr. Sal Raspa, and his beloved wife, Myra.
Why would you want Sal Raspa as a strong influence and decision-maker in our children’s education, training, and discipline?
Here is why: In Sal’s family, there is no such thing as separation or divorce.
He, his wife Myra, and his children have always been and still are one.
These are the most unusual character traits in today’s mixed-up world. These are the attitudes and strengths of character you would want directing and guiding our youth today: a father and a wife, a family totally united, loyal, faithful, and dedicated to education.
They still come together frequently in different parts of the United States. Sal and his family are a unique unit that plays hard, prays intensely, and stays together permanently.
Together, they play! Together, they pray! Together, they stay!
That’s the Dr. Sal Raspa way!
Thank you all very much for patiently reading through my recommendation.
Daniel A Grosso. (Written in 1997)

THE BACKSTABBERS

Dr. Sal Raspa organized a ticket to run together for the St. Mary’s Democratic Central Committee in the 1998 election, and the slate advertised to voters that the looming selection of Delegate John Slade for a district court judge vacancy would necessitate the central committee to fill the vacancy which would occur with Slade being appointed. The slate promised the voters that it was time for an educator to represent St. Mary’s County in the General Assembly and pledged to vote for Salvatore Raspa. As can be expected with a passel of politicians, by the time the vacancy came about and it was time for those who wished to seek the endorsement of the central committee to Gov. Parris Glendening for his selection, the knives came out and found their way into the broad back of Dr. Sal Raspa.
Raspa never put his name into the committee for its selection because he had already counted the votes. The vote count revealed that the majority of the votes of members of the central committee had been recruited by the promises of Congressman Steny Hoyer, who wanted the delegate post to go to John Bohanan, his district representative. Raspa was disappointed, and since he retired from the school system after 38 years, he had looked forward to going to Annapolis.
Raspa was told to go see the appointments secretary of the Governor in Annapolis and that a state post in the Glendening Administration would be opened up for him. The Glendening Administration was as about as inept as an outfit run by liberals, and no job was ever produced for Raspa, who had quietly suffered the public humiliation of his fellow Democrat Central Committee members stabbing him in the back and supporting John Bohanan. Only Pat Woodburn stood by Raspa.
Dr. Sal Raspa took a teaching spot at Frederick Douglass High School in Prince Georges County. The school was a magnet school for science and math and was packed to the ceiling with thugs and mugs. Some of them took a liking to Raspa and began protecting him from violent offenders who roamed the school.
The Glendening Administration failed to keep its promise of a state appointment for the loyal Democrat Raspa and instead gave a state job to Republican Barbara Thompson, who lost the 1998 election for another term as St. Mary’s Commissioner President to Democrat Julie Randall.
Sal Raspa began a new career selling annuities and life insurance, a far safer endeavor than dealing with criminals in the Prince George’s County schools or Maryland politicians.

THE FIXER 
Dr. Raspa also decided to fix the problems of the St. Mary’s Public Schools by running for election to the School Board. He found some good souls to work with on the board that he could depend on, such as Brooke Matthews and Bill Mattingly, and hired Dr. Michael Martirano as Superintendent of Schools.
The reign of competence brought to St. Mary’s Schools with Dr. Martirano soon elevated the school system to one of the best in Maryland. That excellence had dipped and roiled over the past eight years as challenges of the teachers’ union’s radical agendas, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, worthless zoom-teaching, and failing and falling proficiency in reading and math, have made the system one of the worst in Maryland.
It may have been a blessing for Sal Raspa to have suffered from a steadily declining impairment in the last couple of years. It lightened the sadness he would have felt of a once excellent school system he helped build, dropping into mediocrity.
Sal is now gone, leaving his family with a memory worthy of being proud of and a community that can say that they were lucky to have him work so hard to make life in the land of the flask, fiddle, and dark-roasted possum more fun, better educated, and truly a part of the American Dream.

SERVICES FOR SAL

The family will receive friends for Sal’s Life Celebration on Friday, March 7, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a Service celebrated by Reverend Raymond Schmidt at 4:00 p.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A., 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. A Graveside Service will be held at East Side Cemetery in Martin, Tennesee, at a later date.