Forty Years, One Sweater Vest

Dale Irby recently retired after 40 years as a physical education teacher at Prestonwood Elementary in Dallas, Texas. Normally, this would only be news to those who knew the popular teacher. But Irby has the distinction of posing for his school portrait every one of those 40 years in the same clothing!

It began as an accident — a product of his sparse wardrobe back in the day.

“I was so embarrassed when I got the school pictures back that second year and realized I had worn the very same thing as the first year,” said Dale, 63.

But his wife, Cathy, dared him to do it a third year. Then Dale thought five would be funny. “After five pictures,” he said, “it was like: ‘Why stop?’”

After the first few years, Irby only pulled the 1970s shirt and vest out for picture day and put them back for the next year. You can see all forty pictures in a gallery and a video at the Dallas Morning News. Link -via Uproxx

That is so funny. As a retired teacher with 32 years of service (1994) I can empathize with the physical changes one has over the years of school photos. However, when I began teaching in 1962, a jacket and tie were requisite attire. As the years went on, the jacket went first, then eventually the tie. I always wore a nice dress shirt and pants.

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My little brother wore the same sweater for picture day in first and second grade, completely by accident. Of course, being a kid, he couldn't do that for more than a couple years. Looking back at them, we can only tell which was which by the number of teeth he had.