.

Schools should educate, serve as a safe haven, and inspire future generations.

The names they carry can reflect such lofty goals.

It is why the Manteca Unified School District should name the new elementary school being built in southwest Manteca the Antone E. Raymus Elementary School.

Raymus’ story reflects, after all the pluses and minuses are added up, what makes this country and community great.

It is a story of a young boy and his family seeking a better life.

It is a story of the commitment and actions of one teacher helping a struggling kid after school that led to helping make a difference in the education of more than 20,000 children long after she passed away.

It is a story of grace, and second chances, inspired by a frustrated ward of the California Youth Authority in Stockton.

It is a story of benevolence that gave others the ability to help feed the hungry and help lift up the struggling.

It is a story of not driving competitors out of business but helping them to succeed.

It is a story of an entrepreneur who did his best to make sure as many people as possible could eventually own the roof over their head.

It is a story of a man who refused to take no for an answer when educators believed his drive to provide free community-based tutoring services for struggling students was an unobtainable dream.

It is the story of Antone E. Raymus.

There has never been a non-educator in the history of Manteca Unified who has had an impact on so many struggling students.

And there has never been a figure in Manteca’s history that has played such a wide ranging role in providing safe havens for youth, helping churches get started, and a long list of unselfish and unheralded deeds that run the gamut from quietly covering a mortgage payment for a family that has run into tough times, to helping with medical bills.

The school that will be built in southwest Manteca was given the name of Tara Park, when the 22 acres were acquired more than two decades ago.

It was named after a massive office employment and tech center that never got off the ground  — the Tara Business Park.

The name Tara was taken from the famous novel “Gone with the Wind.”

Its use was to conjure up images of the “new south” in Manteca as in south of the Bypass.

The business park employment center and surrounding residential and comercial areas were seen as a way to change the projectory of Manteca.

Given Raymus’ lasting impact on students over more than a quarter of a century and counting, his name gracing the next Manteca elementary school reflects such a tectonic impact in the community that Tara Park’s architects had hoped to accomplish.

It is why the case for the Manteca Unified School District to consider changing Tara Park’s name to Antone E. Raymus School is solid.

Raymus was born to immigrant parents in San Jose.

As a 6 year-old, he moved with his family to Manteca where they were searching to build a better life.

The young Raymus arrived in Manteca in 1923 in the back of a wagon.

He struggled in school, keeping to himself.

A teacher noticed and took the time to work with Raymus after school.

It was a gesture that Raymus never forgot.

His road to establishing Raymus Development Sales, that in the late1970s could take credit for having built one out of every five homes at the time in Manteca, started in 1945.

Raymus got into real estate sales and soon bought his first rental property.

His start in community endeavors in Manteca came two years later when he helped charter the now defunct Teen Center. He was also a founding member of the Manteca Kiwanis service club.

It was during a club tour of the California Youth Authority that Raymus and his fellow Kiwanis came across a teen, frustrated that he was unable to perform a task going into a rage, damaging property before he was subdued.

That scene stuck with Raymus, along with the question of what could be done to help avoid youth becoming that enraged to the point they were heading toward throwing their lives away.

His search to answer that question took many forms.

It led him in 1982 to make the founding donation equivalent to $383,000 today to build the Boys & Girls Club.

It led him to provide a building and financial help for the late Francis Bynum to enlist volunteers to help feed and clothe struggling families through Love Thy Neighbor.

It led him to discount or outright donate land to help a half dozen other Manteca churches become established in addition to support of the Catholic Church where he worshipped.

It led him to purchase and then donate a convalescent home to HOPE Ministries to convert into a homeless shelter for single moms and their children.

It led him to a long list of donations to community and youth groups as well as discreet help for struggling families.

It led him as a new home builder to make sure his company’s models always included a home with a base floorplan that was the least expensive on the market in a bid to provide the most affordable new home market.

It led him to advise to a young home builder struggling in the late 1980s housing recession that was taken to heart and helped what was to become Atherton Homes flourish.

It led him and his wife Marie to found the Raymus Foundation that to this day is still providing financial support to local and area non-profits.

It lead him in 1997, with the help of good friend and retired Manteca High teacher Bob Camden, to establish and bankroll the free community-based tutoring service with the equivalent of $598,000 in today’s dollars.

Initially, district educators essentially did what might aptly be characterized as “humoring” Raymus out of respect for his community philanthropy. 

They weren’t being cynical. Such a community-based tutoring model on the scale he proposed had never worked in any school district.

That didn’t stop Raymus. He convinced retired Manteca High Principal Bill Jones to come aboard as the first executive director.

It wasn’t just to provide know how in terms of working with the education system. It became what was to become known as Give Every Child a Chance credence with educators and signaled just how serious and dedicated Raymus was to seeing a free community based tutoring system succeed.

Now, almost 30 years later, thousands of students throughout the Manteca Unified School District each year receive either one-on-one tutoring or homework assistance that has helped them improve their grasp of basic skills in math, reading, and the language arts.

Tara Park Elementary School is essentially a cookie cutter name such as Almond Estates or The Vineyards are for new tract home developments.

Antone E. Raymus School is a name that embodies the goals of Manteca Unified to help every student — including the struggling children of immigrant parents — to succeed in school.

It is also a name that embodies why Manteca embraces the municipal slogan of being the Family City.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com