Nicholas Tacinas, who has died at the age of 86, was a teacher’s teacher, his family and former students say.
“He was no humdrum teacher,” said Tom Sarconi, a former student who decided to teach, in part, because Tacinas was such a good teacher.
Tacinas “believed everyone could learn and gave them confidence,” said Sarconi, a retired elementary- and middle-school math teacher in Adams County.
Sarconi even went to Tacinas for help with making speeches.
“He taught me how to make eye contact, use gestures and pause to let the people giggle if I said something funny,” said Sarconi.
“He wanted everyone to be a Phi Beta Kappa,” said his son Christopher Tacinas of Aurora.
For 10 years, Nicholas Tacinas was head of the Denver Public Schools libraries, ordering films, books and other teaching materials.
An avid reader, Tacinas read constantly – newspapers, news magazines and books, ranging from autobiographies to Sherlock Holmes.
Tacinas never stopped teaching.
He insisted his children have a dictionary at hand when they were reading a book so they could look up any unfamiliar words, said Christopher Tacinas.
And he was the go-to guy for his grandchildren when they needed help on term papers.
Nicholas G. Tacinas was born May 1, 1921, in Manchester, N.H., and moved to Denver with his parents and sister when he was 3 years old.
He graduated from Morey Junior High School and Denver’s East High School.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in education from the University of Denver.
Tacinas was a Ford Foundation Fellow, which allowed him to study at Columbia University in New York.
While there, he took students through the United Nations to show them how the world organization operated, said his wife, Elaine Tacinas.
He married Elaine Baublin on June 25, 1950.
Tacinas taught history, social studies and English at Horace Mann Junior High School and Baker Junior High School and was principal at West High School.
After retirement, he and his wife lived in Grand Lake, where he served on the East Grand County School Board and the Three Lakes Water and Sanitation District.
In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by another son, George Tacinas of Denver; five grandchildren; and his sister, Catherine Tacinas of Aurora.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
