Mr. Dennis Bender

Dennis Bender, United States History teacher at Granite Hills High School, is preparing for retirement after 43 years of teaching.
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Dennis Bender, 65, boasts a laundry list of students in Apple Valley that have gone on to become successful in every walk of life.

"He was the type of teacher that gave me the big picture not only on his class but on how things work in life," says and current Apple Valley Councilman Scott Nassif."He laid the foundation for a lot of the ways I conduct myself today."

Chris Hitt, a successful Apple Valley businessman, would not be where he is today if it wasn't for Bender.Bender simply would not let the man drop out of school.

Another student who was a problem child, not only reparked Bender's car when asked to unload some things, but mooned him and was subsequently chased around the school's quad by Bender.
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Bender chose not to give him advice, but rather, forced him to stay in school.

Through the force of his unique personality, Bender had a special way of influencing students.

James went on to graduate from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Academy, and much to his surprise, Bender was there to congratulate him.
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Hitt paid the money back within two years, and has remained a close friend of Bender's to this day.
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In 1975, Bender somehow convinced a student to walk in on the first day of class and fire three blanks at him with a track gun.Bender fell behind his desk and counted to four.Then he popped up and asked each student to take out a piece of paper and write down what happened, how many shots were fired and what the suspect was wearing.

"There are kids from that class that to this day are convinced they witnessed a homicide," Bender says laughing. The lesson: You can't convict someone without some type of material evidence.

"You couldn't get away with that these days," Bender says."These days the kids would take out their guns and shoot the guy."

While Bender cared about his students a great deal, he paid no attention to the new fad of political correctness.

When he was mad at a class, he would show a video featuring Killer Whales killing and eating seals.

Some students remain disturbed by it to this day.

"Some of them were close to crying," Bender remembers."Those whales were playing volleyball with those seals."

Other times, when he knew he was getting a bad kid, he would take them outside and have a "Jesus talk" with them.Bender says that's because "Jesus was the only witness."

He had little disciplinary issues, but one he remembers well is when he "physically" threw a student out of his classroom for not standing up for the "Pledge of Allegiance."

Bender holds a special place in his heart for veterans and respect for the flag, in part because his brother died from exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam.

"No one ever challenged me on standing again," Bender says."It was like I was teaching at West Point."

Bender taught Mark Taylor, John McMahon, and Joe Cusimano, who at one point each captained the Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia Sheriff's stations respectively.
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"In that litter there's a future sheriff," Bender says confidently.
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Bender has also taught his former students' sons and daughters, including Scott Nassif's two sons, Chad and Brian Nassif.
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Lucky remembered that Bender really had a commitment to making history interesting to his students.
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In an interview with Bender at Oggi's restaurant in Apple Valley, two former students stopped to catch up.
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It's only fitting, free food always come up, as students talk about Bender.

"Being in Bender's class was like being married," James says.
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"I still have the fire in my belly," said Bender who is running for the Apple Valley Unified School District Board in November.

When asked to describe Bender in one word almost all people interviewed for this story said it was impossible.
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As a father, brother, friend, business owner and coach , in his heart, Dennis Bender is, and always will be a teacher.
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Many current and former students, which includes this reporter say, "thank you Mr. Bender."

History Teacher Dennis Bender, who organized the visit, said it teaches kids on a different level.

"He realizes how precious everything is that we have," Bender said of Marshall.