"Good, better, best" - Former students remember Penn Hills teacher killed in crash with his uplifting phrase
PENN HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) -- Penn Hills High School teacher Josh Willy died in a crash on Friday morning after going over a hillside coming out of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.
Willy's former students are remembering him for the lifelong lessons he passed along to them. Specifically, it's a phrase Willy repeated time after time.
"Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best," Willy would say.
It's a phrase that, while simple, meant a lot, according to Heather Kuhn, who took Willy's history class 20 years ago, and now repeats it to her children.
"He wasn't ever telling you that you had to be like the best, but you just had to do better than like you did before," Kuhn said.
Willy spent years as the Gifted Education Coordinator at Penn Hills High School, where Christina Marra was one of his students.
"I think that just shows exactly who he was to students," Marra said. "He always believed that you could be the best person."
The saying, and Willy's guidance, paid dividends for Marra when deciding which college she'd go to and what she'd study.
"I credit Mr. Willy with just teaching me to believe in myself and to follow my heart, and he led me to the path where I am today," Marra said.
Both she and Kuhn have been grappling with the loss of Willy after the crash.
"My heart [sank] whenever I got the news," Marra said. "I can't imagine how the school will go on without him."
Kuhn said it was the worst possible news.
"I was like, 'That is terrible,'" she said, heartbroken.
He remains one of her favorite teachers.
"Everybody has so many different beautiful memories," Marra said.
Lost from the world was someone always willing to talk to students whenever they asked, no matter the topic.
"He was one of the true, good ones [who] was always there to guide students, to be their best, and to go to the next path of their life," Marra said.
Kuhn still has the yearbook from when she was in Willy's class 20 years ago.
In it, he wrote, "Good, better, best - don't forget the rest."
