Retired, Beloved Teacher From Montco Who Led Wilderness Trips Dies

WORCESTER, PA — The Methacton school community is mourning a loss after the recent passing of a former teacher who was known for his love of nature and who took students on trips throughout the United States and Canada during his 35-year career in education.

Frank Poehlmann, 81, died on Sept. 2 at the Meadowood Senior Living Facility in Worcester Township, where he had moved along with his wife, Jean, in late 2017, two years after he was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s Disease, according to his obituary.

“To the end, Frank’s smile was contagious and won over the hearts of anyone who encountered him,” his obituary reads. “He will truly be missed by those left behind, but we are happy he is finally at peace.”

Poehlmann was a native of Scranton, Pa. who relocated to the Philadelphia region with his family when he was younger.

He met his wife in the Norristown area in 1953, and they ended up settling down and raising a family together after getting married in 1964.

The two shared a seventh-grade homeroom together, according to the obituary.

Poehlmann’s death was also announced on social media by son Greg Poehlmann.

“As some of you may have heard, Big Frank has left the building,” Greg Poehlmann posted to Facebook on Sept. 3. “Our Pop passed peacefully Friday afternoon with my mom, sister, my wife and I by his side.”

Greg Poehlmann, who also posted a touching memorial video his father on his Facebook page, said his father had an “incredible impact” on the students he taught at Methacton High School for 35 years.

“He’d take high school students on all kinds of adventures out west and up into Canada,” Greg Poehlmann wrote, who noted that his dad was also an avid fisherman and outdoors enthusiast.

His obituary says that Poehlmann, who earned the distinction of Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow, had a “passion for the outdoors [that] led him to make countless trips to the mountainous regions of the western US as well as the northern reaches of Canada.

“Frank was a selfless man who often took Methacton students on these wilderness trips so he could impart his love and appreciation of these wondrous sites to the next generation,” the obituary states.

During his career, Poehlmann taught world cultures, U.S. history and other advanced placement history courses, and he “constantly challenged his students and welcomed healthy debate and discourse,” the obituary reads. “Frank was an influencer, a pioneer, a guide and a driving force to both his family and the youth he taught over the years.”

The obituary says that Poehlman enjoyed swimming, canoeing, fishing, singing, photography, hunting, skiing and playing Santa Claus to his grandchildren.

“Frank was a Renaissance Man in every sense of the expression,” the obituary states.

Poehlmann was also a dog lover, sang for the Ursinus Community Choir, and helped to establish Buckman’s ski shop in Lower Providence Township. He even organized trips to Vermont so his students could try out skiing for themselves.

At one point during his career, Poehlmann took a sabbatical and leave of absence from teaching so his family could move for a two-year period to Paris, France, where his wife, Jean, worked on a special project for employer Merck.

“While there, he also substituted at the American School of Paris,” the obituary states. “His intellectual curiosity was on full display as the family traveled through Europe at every opportunity to examine history first hand. The family was blessed to have Frank as their historiographer!”

Tributes came pouring in on social media after Poehlmann’s death was announced.

Peggy Joy Nixon Swope wrote that after graduating from Methacton in 1973, she returned as a teacher in 1977, until she retired in 2012, “so I did have the pleasure of being Frank’s colleague for many years. What a wonderful man he was!”

Molly Gabel wrote that she attended one of Poehlmann’s camping trips to the western U.S. back in 1992.

She recalled Poehlmann teaching her and the other students how to fly fish on the top of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming.

“He was truly a gentle soul & wonderful mentor…I will forever remember that trip!” she posted to Facebook. “He made it memorable.”

Another former student, Rob Kratz, wrote that it’s not often students can say they went on fishing trips with their teacher. But such was the case with Poehlmann.

Kratz said he got to do so twice: on the Salmon River in New York and once during a memorable trip to Alaska with Poehlmann and other students.

“I was very glad to have known your father,” Kratz commented on Greg Poehlmann’s Facebook post announcing his father’s death.

A memorial service was held on Sept. 14 in Cedars, Pa.

Editor’s Note: The author of this article, a 1998 Methacton High School graduate, had the privilege of having Frank Poehlmann as a history teacher. He considers Poehlmann, “Mr. P.” to students, to be among his most favorite and inspiring teachers of his formative years.