Jeff Thoreson does a cheer with his second-grade class before the start of their kickball game on his last in-person day of school Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Jeff Thoreson does a cheer with his second-grade class before the start of their kickball game on his last in-person day of school Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Snohomish teacher hit the right notes in memorable career

Jeff Thoreson will retire this month after molding minds at Riverview Elementary School for 41 years.

SNOHOMISH — Not many people can remember their first- or second-grade teacher, but Jeff Thoreson’s class at Riverview Elementary is hard to forget.

Each day begins with Thoreson’s loud baritone voice singing a long, operatic, “Good morning!” that echoes through the hallways. A jet-black Kawai piano sits against one wall, keys worn from the songs Thoreson incorporates into each lesson.

“My students know, when things are serious, I let them know right away,” Thoreson said. “But we’ve already established a relationship, so they know, ‘Oh, I need to take this part really seriously.’ We learn to laugh and we learn to work hard.”

Costumes and creativity are cornerstones of the curriculum.

Vowel review means donning a tuxedo or duck bill to teach the short “u” sound. An introduction to fractions often includes Thoreson showing up to class with only half of a beard.

“One year, I think I even taught one quarter the next day, shaving another quarter of the beard off, but that was a little embarrassing when I went to the grocery store, so I think I only did that once,” the jovial 63-year-old educator said.

On Friday, at school day’s end, Riverview Elementary’s piano man will take his last bow. After 41 years at the school, Thoreson is retiring from teaching.

At first, Thoreson believed the job at Riverview was just a foot in the door.

A classical voice major in college, Thoreson aspired to be a choral director at the high school or collegiate level. Instead, when the job market ran dry, he accepted the position teaching general music at the small elementary school on Fobes Hill in Snohomish.

“I took courses in college, so I knew kind of what to do, but the kids had to teach me what they were all about,” he said. “I ended up falling in love with this age group and the creativity that we could do. The sky was the limit.”

Thoreson taught music for nine years, but longed to develop stronger relationships with his students. He moved his piano to a first-grade classroom and never looked back, spending the rest of his career teaching first and second graders.

After so many years in a tight-knit community, last names began to repeat.

For the past 25 years, Thoreson said he has had the kids of former students in his class. Some years just one, other years as many as six or seven. He said the role change is often more difficult for the parents who aren’t sure how to address their former teacher.

Jeff Thoreson signs a student yearbook on his last in-person day of school on Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Jeff Thoreson signs a student yearbook on his last in-person day of school on Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

“Maybe one of the reasons I am retiring is because I don’t want to get to the grandchildren, that might freak me out,” Thoreson said.

He estimates 2,000 to 3,000 students have passed through his classroom. Five of those students were Thoreson’s own kids.

Thoreson’s oldest daughter, Sigrid Ary, said her dad made school fun and easy to understand with tangible, engaging lessons. From a young age, Ary said she heard from kids on the playground excited about her dad.

“I think part of growing up in the community that my dad taught in, I really saw how much of an impact he had,” Ary said. “Even now, anywhere I go, sometimes not even in Snohomish, people will find out he is my dad and they have all these amazing things to say about him. Some of them were past students, some were past parents. Growing up, that really showed me what a big impact teachers have and I think that is part of what made me really interested in teaching.”

Jeff Thoreson cheers with his students after his class wins a tug-of-war game at Riverview Elementary School on Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Jeff Thoreson cheers with his students after his class wins a tug-of-war game at Riverview Elementary School on Thursday in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Ary is now a kindergarten teacher in the Snohomish School District and said she swaps lesson ideas with her dad daily.

Thoreson’s colleagues praised him as an ideal teaching partner.

Catherine Curran taught with Thoreson for more than 20 years and continued to substitute for his class after her retirement. She said Thoreson’s willingness to try any new idea set him apart.

Curran and Thoreson co-opted an annual project raising salmon in the classroom and releasing them into local creeks to help restore the area’s fish population. After three years, waterways once vacant of salmon had the adults returning regularly to the streams.

Amy Reese taught second grade in tandem with Thoreson for 11 years. She said Thoreson’s ability to blend laughs and amusement into important lessons resonated with generations of children.

“Kids love Jeff,” Reese said. “He just has a certain way about him that really engages the students”

Jeff Thoreson plays kickball with his class. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Jeff Thoreson plays kickball with his class. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

On a visit to Riverview last month, Thoreson said he was sore from playing Flyers Up with a football on the playground earlier in the week. The kids make him feel like a star athlete and Thoreson said he returns the support.

“However you do it, developing a relationship with students is really what drives them,” he said. “They learn very little without relationships.”

With only a few weeks of school left, Thoreson wasn’t focused on his retirement. Instead, he talked about what still needs to be done for the kiddos before the school year’s close.

He admitted a period of grief would likely await after the final bell, but said he has five grandchildren, a piano tuning business and his musical quintet, ‘Common Ground,’ that will keep him busy.

Jeff Thoreson in his second-grade classroom at Riverview Elementary School in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Jeff Thoreson in his second-grade classroom at Riverview Elementary School in Snohomish. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Like any educator, Thoreson hopes he made an impression on every child he taught, but said when the kids are so young it can be hard to know what sticks. It may be the goofy moments that he’ll be remembered by, but it’s the discussions on being a better person and communicating with one another that Thoreson wants to last a lifetime.

“I know everyone is going to move on and memories fade and that is fine,” he said. “I would rather have that lasting impact be things I never know about, but really made a positive influence on (students’) lives.”

On Monday, Thoreson received a tangible marker of the difference he made. The stage at Riverview Elementary has been renamed “The Thoreson Theater” in his honor.

Ian Davis-Leonard: 425-339-3448; idavisleonard@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @IanDavisLeonard.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.