Dr. Harrison "Chuck" Straley, IV, who taught math at Woodberry Forest School from 1969 to 1998, retired this spring from Wheaton College at the age of eighty. Chuck was educated at the University of Richmond, Emory University, and the University of Virginia. During his time at Woodberry, Chuck held the J. Carter Walker Chair and served as the Leland Lord Chair of Mathematics. Three of his four children and three of his grandsons attended Woodberry Forest School. An accomplished tennis player in his own right, he coached Woodberry's varsity tennis team. But Doc Straley was probably best known at Woodberry for his gregarious personality, exemplified by the way he called out to the kitchen staff in his West Virginia accent after every buffet meal: "Thank you all!"

Upon retiring from the Forest, Chuck and his late wife, Charlene, spent four years traveling around the country in an RV. He joined the faculty of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where he conducted research into K-12 mathematics education and frequently performed a one-person play, Isaac Newton, A Dramatic Lecture, co-written with Charlene and his son, Forrest Straley '76. Of his enjoyment of donning a white wig to portray the famous mathematician, Chuck remarked, “My students claim I am crazy, but I think I am just colorful."