Meet Mr. Mainer; An “Honest to a Fault” Teaching Extraordinaire

Robert Mainer remembers when kids took full advantage of street light curfews and friends shared a single soda pop without the worry of catching a cold. Though those days are long gone, the now retired award-winning teacher and some of his colleagues still remember the joys of teaching in the Valley.

“I can remember his last year of teaching,” Teresita Mainer says. “There was a young fellow in his class and he (Mainer) took him boating and did extra little things to help him.”

Sitting on his back porch, overlooking the mountains and his neighbors Lima Ranch, tears come to Mainer’s eyes as he shares what teaching means to him.

“Being a teacher is like being an actor,” he says. “We bring that personal thing with us and the kids will either buy it or not. I enjoyed the feedback I got from the kids. It was very fulfilling.”

Born in Dallas, Texas, Mainer grew up in a single-parent household until he was seven-years-old. His mother came back to California before his younger brother Mannford was born.

“My mother was a fun-loving person,” Mainer said, smiling. “I remember driving down Riverside Drive in Glendale in the 1930 model A Black Ford, singing ‘Zippy da doo da, Zippy da day…’”

After serving in the Army for three years, Mainer attended Cal State Fullerton, where he earned a Bachelors degree in History and moved to the Valley in 1971 after meeting his wife Teresita.

Teresita reminisces about meeting who she calls the “modest fellow.” “He was very much a city boy,” Teresita says. “I don’t think he really knew which end of the shovel went in the hand.”

Before moving to the Valley Mainer lived in Torrance and visited the Shell Oil Lease near Refugio Beach to dear hunt.

“I used to go up to Gaviota Beach with my uncle to go hunting,” Mainer said. “That’s how I met my wife Sita, on a hunting trip. I started coming up here every weekend, so I finally asked her to marry me.”

After marrying his wife and moving north, Mainer taught for two years at Kazmalia School near Guadalupe. Then he sought an almost impossible to obtain teaching job in the Valley in the summer of 1963, the year his daughter was born.

“I really had to struggle to get an interview with Bob Parsons,” he said. “No one was hiring at that time.”

After many phone calls and requests to be interviewed, Mainer finally got the opportunity to apply for a Math teaching job at College school.

“I had the interview on July 2,” Mainer said. “And at about one o’clock my wife woke me up and said ‘the baby’s coming.’” “So at about 6:37 a.m. my daughter was born and at 8:30 I was interviewing with Bob Parsons,” Mainer added. “By 9 a.m. I had the job.”

In 2002 Mainer retired and discovered the up-side and down-side to having time on his hands.

“I have mixed feelings about retirement,” Mainer said. “I like getting to plan out my day but I miss the kids.”

Though the classroom is no longer his domain, he’s still spotted around town by some of his old students who are now adults and have families of their own.

“It’s been a long time, but he was a wonderful and patient teacher,” says Valley resident Karen Bramsen, who had Mainer as her fourth grade teacher. “He is the sweetest nicest man and he comes down to the fruit stand and I just saw him at hospital.”

“I absolutely get joy from seeing him around town,” she adds. “He gives me a hug every time I see him.”