METHUEN — When Methuen High School students and teachers return to classes next week, there will be a sense of sadness within their ranks.
Two popular teachers will no longer be there.
Mark Fisher, 56, an instructor in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps., and special education teacher John Webb, 57, died within eight days of each other this month.
"The high school is really feeling this," Superintendent Jeanne Whitten said yesterday.
Fisher taught ROTC program for 15 years. He died at his home in Leominster on Saturday, Aug. 16 of a heart attack, Whitten said.
Junior ROTC teaches students leadership, responsibility and team work. Fisher was a retired Army sergeant major who served in the 10th Special Forces Group and wore the Green Beret for most of his 23-year military career.
Webb died Sunday at Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H. He lived in Methuen and taught special education students, helping them attend mainstream classes and modifying the curriculum to fit their needs. He also helped with after-school programs, Whitten said.
Webb's strength was helping "challenging students," said Joseph Harb, the science curriculum coordinator for grades 7 through 12.
"He took a special interest in the kids that were having difficultly academically," Harb said. "The kids really felt comfortable with John because he had such a friendly demeanor. He always gave kids the services that he would expect in a teacher for his own kids."
Webb was close to the members of the school's science department.
"He ate lunch with the science teachers every day," Harb said.
Webb leaves behind a wife, Sharon, and three children: James, Lauren and Garrett.
Fisher leaves behind a son Brian, a daughter Andrea, and his former wife, Imelda.
Students in the Junior ROTC program attended his funeral services on Aug. 20, Whitten said. He was interned at Fort Devens Cemetery.
Webb's funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 9 a.m. at St. Monica's Church in Methuen. Burial will be private, and there will be calling hours for his family and friends on Friday from 2 to 4 and from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kenneth H. Pollard Funeral Home Inc., at 233 Lawrence St., his obituary said.
