SOLON — Larry Meister, Solon’s Senior Citizen of the Year for 2022, was the high school principal for 35 years, has and continues to serve on nearly every committee in town, and has called Solon home for 58 years.
“I fell in love with Solon. It was easy,” he said. Meister was born in Hempstead, a community in Long Island, New York near New York City. “I came out here because my dad graduated from Iowa, and I started school on the east coast and didn’t like it, because the college I went to was smaller than my high school. They thought that was a good school for me so I started out, and I lasted about two years, and I said ‘Dad, I want to go where you did.’ So, I came out here and I found an Iowa girl, so no need to go back to the big city.”
Meister was principal from 1965 until 1999. “I worked with parents, school people, we had such good unity together and it hurt that I had to retire (due to age). My wife (Delores) retired the year before, and she was sleeping in and I was going to work,” he said with a laugh and added, “That didn’t fit very well.”
A stint in the military fueled his passion for education, to the benefit of society in general, and Solon in particular. “I didn’t go into education until I was drafted into the Army. I was in the service from ’59 to ’61, and what I learned there was, boy, did people need to be educated. So, I came back and I figured well, let’s see if I can help that in any way and I went and finished my degree, got a master’s degree because I wanted to go into administration.” Meister earned a degree above a Master’s, but below a Doctorate, he said.
“They had an opening in Solon (for a teacher, the job he held for two years before his promotion to principal), we moved here, we built a house, and we’ve been in it for 58 years. I know so many people in the community and when I retired I wanted to get involved with what’s going on in Solon. I liked it so much I probably tried to get on every committee there was.” One in particular is the Solon Area Community Foundation, which he has been a member of for 43 years. He has also been a member of Solon Senior Advocates since the early 2000s, and he is on the board at his church. “That’s just me,” he said with a smile. “I have the background to do it. Plus, when you’ve dealt with teenagers for 35 years, you’re in charge of them getting a good education. You’ve dealt with teenagers, you’ve dealt with adults who come in to find out what their teenager has done… I mean, I’ve dealt with every area. I have a feel for what needs to be done and what might be done and go from there. I’ve had the background to come up with ideas to do things, and some are accepted, some aren’t, and it’s all for the betterment of the community. That’s kept me busy since I’ve been retired now for 23 years.”
Being good-natured and having a positive attitude have been hallmarks of Meister’s time in Solon.
“I’m just the kind of person who wants people to enjoy what they’re doing. To me laughter is the best medicine you can have, and as long as I can keep people happy and so forth, and even though I have to do my job, I’ve had kids that have come back and said, ‘I’m sorry I did this.’ I had one knock on my door three years after they’d graduated and moved somewhere. They came back to see their folks, knocked on my door, and there’s this good-looking guy standing there, and he says, ‘I’m so-and-so, I graduated and so-and-so, and I’m here because I want to apologize for some stuff I did that’s really been bothering me.’ Who does that?”
While principals often carry a reputation or stereotype of being tough, iron-fisted disciplinarians, Meister, although tough when he needed to be, former students have told him they respected him but never feared him. “That wasn’t my job. My job was to help them change what they did, and why they did it. It’s just how you approach things.”
Meister employed his wry sense of humor while getting his point across many times through his career. One instance had to deal with a group of students who were planning to sneak out of school and drive to McDonald’s in Iowa City for lunch. Meister called the store manager and explained who he was, the situation, and asked for his help with a little surprise for the students. “I asked if they had a top, a McDonald’s top, I could wear. I told them I wouldn’t touch any of the food or do any of the things, but when they (the students) walk in, I’m gonna have my back to them, and I’ll see what counter they go to, and then I’d turn around. They didn’t get into any trouble, but they bought me lunch.”
It was all about correcting without condemning, he said. “They’re kids, they’re gonna do stupid things. When I was a kid I did stupid things. So why do you have to punish them? I did a lot of things like that, I enjoyed my job, I hired all the right teachers, this community really backed me up on just about everything.”
An open house was held in his honor Saturday, May 21 at the Solon Public Library where family, friends, and former co-workers gathered. Former students were also anticipated to be among the well-wishers. “They’re gonna come in today, and they’re gonna be in their fifties, and I saw them and know what they looked like when they were teenagers. I won’t know any of them when they walk in today. But they know me. For some reason, they know me.”
Larry Meister shows off cakes baked in his honor as the 2022 Solon Senior Citizen of the Year. An open house was held Saturday, May 21 for Meister.