Greer grades papers one evening at his home just outside of Narrows, where he lives by himself. Since his wife died and his children moved away to start families of their own, he says he considers his students and the Narrows High School community his family.

Photos by JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Larry Greer asks for senior Corey Lowe's take on an editorial cartoon in his U.S. government class at Narrows High School. Greer says he tries to get his students interested in current events — with mixed results.

Logan Dennis, 15, waits in the hallway after being disruptive in Greer's class. Greer says he would rather temporarily send kids to the hall than have them miss class altogether by being sent to the office or being suspended.

NARROWS -- From restaurants and banks to gas stations and the Giles County Sheriff's Office, one name rings familiar to Narrows High School graduates: Larry Greer.

Greer teaches U.S. history and government to freshmen and seniors at Narrows, where 12 of his former students also teach.

At 72, the soft-spoken and shy educator has spent nearly five decades in the classroom, the longest teaching career in the county. It's why the school's National Honor Society awarded him a top teacher award and why he was this year's Grand Marshal during Homecoming.

"He's a legend in Giles County," said Narrows Principal Rex Gearhart.

Greer has stood at the lectern as teaching trends -- and students -- have come and gone. And he's been a coach for just about every sport.

To him, little, including his no-nonsense approach, has changed. He still demands respect, and his priority remains the students.

"The kids haven't changed that much," he said. "They're still good, bad and indifferent."

Coaching brought the sports-obsessed Greer to the classroom. Students and their potential have brought him back, decade after decade.

He joined the staff at Narrows in 1964, before shifting between Narrows Elementary/Middle School and the high school.

"I wanted to be a coach," he said. "In those days, you had to teach, too."

He taught "behind the wheel" driving courses and coached football, basketball and track and field. In 1986, he returned to Narrows High, where he's remained since.

In two weeks, Greer (as Giles residents call him) will watch yet another group -- the class of 2009 -- leave, as the class's 40 students join others in the New River Valley who receive their diplomas.

For six years, he's been the senior class adviser, but he said he's grown closer with many in this class, the smallest in a few years.

Creating a bond with students is a goal that the town's schools strive toward, Gearhart said.

That connection, and an understanding of generations of the same families, is what drives Greer's ability to reach students.

"I think he has a really good grasp of kids and how they mature," said Narrows math teacher Aleeta Morrison.

"I guess ... 50 years in the business, he just knows. I think that's one of the things that keeps him in the business. He loves to see them coming in as eighth- and ninth-graders and mature."

Morrison, who had Greer as a middle-school PE teacher and in driver's education, calls Greer the "grandfather" to today's students.

Students sometimes speak unfavorably about classes, but they talk about him outside of class fondly. Above all they say he's fair.

There is "still a level of respect," she said.

It's respect he earns through hard work and compassion, colleagues say.

To them, it's expected to see Greer's upstairs corner classroom light shining through the evening, long after school has ended. Some nights he stays until midnight, grading papers, preparing lessons and sifting through old papers that could help current students.

"There's just a lot that needs to get done," he explained.

And, it's work that he has no plans to relinquish.

"It's what I do," he said.

In years past, Greer said, he was strong-willed and raised his voice with unruly students.

"I thought you could make someone do something," he said.

Colleague McCreery Mann, a 1992 Narrows grad who played basketball for Greer, recalls those days.

"He would get up in your face gettin' after ya," he said, but most of the time, he was quiet.

It's the understated love for students that sticks with Mann the most.

As a junior, he remembers Greer forgoing tradition and letting him start on senior night just because his sick mother was finally able to attend a game.

"You knew that he cared about you," Mann said. "He was disciplined, but it was kind of one of them that you knew that he cared about you."

It's the same care that led him to take in a student about 15 years ago whose family had moved from the area. These days, Greer said, he's not too loud.

Now "I try not to be too strict with them," Greer said. "You just have to let them know where you stand."

He does, even if kids try to push his buttons.

Former students said he demands respect without actually speaking.

"He didn't have to. Just the way he carries himself you knew," said Eric Thwaites, a former student who considers himself a third son to Greer. "He's a square, and he knows it. But, he's a good man."

His calmer approach was evident in one history class this month, during Standards of Learning preparation. After an hour of review, Greer's students jumped from their seats once the bell sounded.

But Greer wasn't ready for them to leave. He stepped back from his lectern, a trademark that students sometimes bemoan, and gently shut the door.

"You need to go over this. You might learn something," he said.

They gathered their books and left. Maybe they'd listen, maybe not, but at least he tried, he said.

Greer said the exams, new during the past decade, are one example of how things have changed. Some for the better, some the worse.

"They've got too much pressure, and so much emphasis is on grades now," he said.

He's glad that students are held accountable because he remembers "a period of time when school systems, even school boards, nobody would take a stand on anything."

Thwaites, a police officer who talks with the man he calls "Dad Greer" regularly, said working with students is Greer's priority.

To this day, you can see the disappointment in his eyes when he hears of a former student's troubles.

"They're his kids," he said.