[Stuart]

I saw this story in the newspaper today:

High schoolers finish cancer victim’s passion project

BY SYDNEY PAGE • WASHINGTON POST

Shane Porter knew he was dying of cancer when he came home with a rusty 1969 Jeep Commando that had no seats and a shoddy engine. He purchased the battered vehicle in 2016 as a family project to work on with his wife and their two sons, Michael and Tim, now 24 and 22. It was intended to be a bonding activity.

“He knew he wasn’t going to be around much longer,” said Tigger Porter, who met her future husband when she was 14 and he was 15. “He thought, ‘You know what, I want good memories. I want to do this.’” The family took on the project and tinkered away on the Jeep until Shane died inJanuary 2022 at age 57 after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer and lymphoma.

“Up until a month before he passed away, he was in the garage working on the Jeep,” Tigger Porter said of her husband, who worked for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for 30 years and was a fire captain.

After Porter’s death, the Jeep languished in the garage. The partially done project was too difficult to pick back up, a painful reminder of a task that the family couldn’t bring themselves to complete. “We couldn’t do it,” said Tigger Porter, a paramedic. But they also couldn’t bring themselves to get rid of the vehicle. “It has sentimental value,” Tigger Porter said.

So the car sat there — until May 2022, when Bob Mauger, a longtime friend of the family, took note of it one day when he was visiting. Mauger is an automotive technology teacher at Corona High School in Corona, Calif., and when he saw the timeworn Jeep, he said, a light bulb went on. “This would be a good project for my students to complete,” he recalled thinking. He pitched the idea to his advanced class, which includes junior and senior students, and they jumped on board. “They were like, ‘We have to do this for the family,’ ” Mauger said.

Porter and her sons were delighted by the idea, too. “It was going to help the kids learn, which is what my husband was all about,” said Tigger Porter. In their automotive class, students regularly work on teachers’ and parents’ vehicles. “We do work for community members and parents of students that can’t afford to have their brakes done,” said Mauger, adding that nearly 60% of students at the high school come from economically disadvantaged homes. Car owners are expected to cover the cost of any needed parts, but the students’ work is free.

In addition to acquiring new skills, “the kids are learning how to give back,” Mauger said. “They’re not just learning how to fix their own car, but they’re learning how to be a good human. That’s what the world needs.” Repairing the Porters’ vehicle was the class’ most significant project because of the meaning behind it. It also proved more complicated than the students had anticipated. “It was a project that I knew was going to be a lot of work, but it’s not just a car,” said Judah Castillo, 17. “It was very meaningful.” “It wasn’t running, engine parts were missing, the cooling system wasn’t functioning,” said Mauger, who, before becoming a teacher, was a mechanic. Plus, “we noticed there were some structural issues.”

It took 15 months to address all the problems. It wasn’t just class time; many students spent their evenings and weekends on it. When they didn’t finish it before the end of the school year, many of them came back over the summer — including seniors who had graduated — to finish the job. They rebuilt the engine, fixed electrical issues, revived the cooling system, sealed the transmission and transfer case and repaired rust.

“They were so dedicated,” Mauger said. “I’m super proud of my students.” Others pitched in Mauger’s automotive class partnered with other classes at the school — including the metal shop class — to polish off the final product. In all, 22 students worked on the Jeep “There was so much collaboration,” he said. After restoring the car, students repainted it.

“The main goal was to make it drivable and safe,” said Mauger, who paid for many of the parts, a cost he estimated at about $600. While there were several obstacles and hiccups along the way, he felt as though “Shane was with us the whole time,” Mauger said. “I think he would be thankful that we were able to give this gift to his boys and his wife.”

The students presented the revived Jeep to the Porter family July 27. “Everybody was crying,” Mauger said. Castillo added, “It feels rewarding to see our work pay off.” Porter and her sons were grateful for the students’ longterm commitment to the car. “They had no idea who we were, but they did it,” Tigger Porter said of the students. “This was truly a work of love.”

Driving the car is “like no other feeling. I can’t even describe it,” Tigger Porter said, adding that she feels closest to her husband when she is behind the wheel of his Jeep. “I get to reminisce about my boys and Shane and the things we used to do.”

Mauger said his goal was for the car to be a celebration of Shane Porter’s life rather a symbol of his family’s loss. “It’s something that the family can enjoy and have Dad with them,” he said.

[The Champ]

Great work by Mauger and his students.

[Greg Reid]

Wonderful story. Thanks for posting.

[Andre]

There is hope..

[nas t eh]

Thanks for posting