John Mungai: In Loving Memory

Photo via @sww_hsa on Instagram

In August, the Walls community mourned the loss of beloved math teacher John Mungai. Mr. Mungai, who had worked at Walls for eight years, imparted on those he taught and worked with a comfort and security that will surely be missed.

“I think it's sort of easy to overlook Mr. Mungai, because he was really quiet, he didn't draw attention to himself,” said math teacher Jesse Koplowitz, longtime colleague of Mr. Mungai. “But he had a really big picture perspective on things that was reassuring to the rest of us.”

"He was just a patient person, and so I feel like he just had this calming presence," agreed fellow math teacher Kristin Kelly.

“He had a wonderful, good heart,” said Elaine Abbas, who worked with Mungai for years at Alice Deal Middle School prior to working closely with him as a substitute at Walls. “He always looked at the positive. And he would say, ‘Yeah, we have to work with this [student] a little bit more, he needs a little more help.’ And that was pretty much it, where I might say, ‘Oh, this kid is driving me crazy’, you know, he never exhibited any of that [impatience].”

“You could really tell that he loved what he did,” said former student of Mr. Mungai, Marie-Celeste Pessey (‘26). “He focused a lot on teaching us himself instead of assigning us a lot of work, and you could tell he really cared about his students.”

This care was evident in Mr. Mungai’s organization of a student trip to Kenya, his native country, and his tireless efforts to work, despite his declining health. Of his tenacity, Ms. Abbas said, “I think while he was here, he was a much stronger person because he didn't have to think about his illness. He was able to do what he loved, and he loved teaching.”

“He made learning math fun with his humor,” emphasized Jerey Cuadro (‘25). “I always looked forward to his class.”

Beyond his life as a teacher, Mr. Mungai was a devoted husband and father of two sons. “He was pretty private about his personal life in a lot of ways, but he was so proud of his sons and talked about them all the time,” said Ms. Kelly. “He would joke that coming into work was like his chance to rest more because when he got home, it was just like ‘Dad, Dad, Dad’, and they wanted to be with him all the time…. He just loved them so much.”

“I’ll miss seeing him here, he was really special,” said another former student, Emil Hanna (‘27).

Despite his passing, Mr. Mungai’s legacy lives on in the Walls community, through students and teachers alike. As Mr. Koplowitz concluded, “I’ll miss him.”