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Thane Frederick Opfell, known by many as “The Gentle Giant”, at 6’7”
tall,
passed on August 9, 2019. He was a beloved teacher and
administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District for
over 30 years, from
which he retired in 2017. He is the son of
Dr.
John B. Opfell
(1924-2018), a
space scientist, and
Olga S. Opfell
(1919-2008), an
author. He is survived by his identical twin
brother, Jon G. Opfell, and his older brother, Christopher K.
Opfell. It is no surprise that Thane ended up in the educational field, having been an excellent student at Agoura High School, where he was on the debate team, and then following his older brother to UC Irvine where he graduated in 1979 with a degree in History. After graduation he worked with the California Park Service, in search and rescue at San Jacinto State Park, while obtaining his MA from California State University, Northridge. He graduated as well from the Outward Bound School of Mountaineering in Leadville, Colorado.
There is a funny
story about how Thane, while with the Park Service, had to
rescue a hiker stranded in the snow and had to give him clothes.
Thane then skiied down the mountainin his under garments. You
can imagine what that must have looked like! He even recieved a
commendation from Gov. Jerry Brown for this.
Thane was an avid mountaineer, having ascended Mt. Whitney with
his twin brother at 17 years of age in 1975, in the footsteps of
their father who had done it in 1952, and subsequently
three additional times on various routes to the summit. He was
also an exceptional skier who enjoyed the black diamond ski
slopes at various resorts in the San Gabriel Mountains as well
as at Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada.
In 1982 he married his college sweetheart, Debbie Potter, but
the marriage did not last and Thane remained single for the rest
of his life.
His first job as a teacher was at Lawrence Middle School in
Chatsworth, CA, where he taught history and computer science. In
the photos below is a 1994 photo of Thane instructing then LA
Mayor Richard Riordan, who looks like he has never seen a
computer before.
Years later, Thane was promoted to Assistant Principal at Monroe
High School, in Van Nuys, CA, where he spent the balance of his career, before
returning to Lawrence as an Assistant Vice Principal just before
he retired. On September 24, 2019, the Maker’s Lab at Lawrence
was dedicated in Thane's name.
Thane also had a great love for adventure abroad and travelled to Europe. One of his more interesting adventures was his trip to Romania in 1989, just after the revolution. There is a photo of him below standing in front of a building potmarked with bullet holes.
"Mr. Opfell" is remembered by students and co-workers alike as someone
whose door was always open and was always more interested in hearing
about them than talking about himself. He was an avid
student of history, particularly World War 2, and it was said
that he knew more about the war than those who actually fought
in it. He received a Winston Churchill Scholarship at one point.
He was also a great lover of animals, particularly rescues.
Thane
spent the last years of his life in the company of his
Chihuahua, Little Pea, and his rescue cats Spot and Callie.
Unfortunately, he was in a great deal of pain from an
unsuccessful hand surgery and he was losing mobility due
arthritis his knees. Thane passed shortly after Pea and Spot and their ashes were buried
with him.
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