One of Fox High School’s most treasured teachers has died.
Art Kasey, who taught at the school for 44 years, was found dead in his home at approximately 9:45 a.m. Oct. 21, Arnold Police reported.
Mr. Kasey was 84.
“This is probably the saddest news that we can come across,” Fox High School assistant principal Joe Salsman said. “He taught here for 44 years. He was the most beloved teacher to ever teach at Fox High School. He was probably one of the most beloved citizens in the Arnold community.”
A post on the Fox High School “In Memory Of” Memorial Wall Facebook group about Mr. Kasey had nearly 1,300 reactions and more than 430 comments on Oct. 30.
“He was our longest serving teacher and has made an impact on thousands of kids, as well as members in our community, staff and Arnold in general,” said Fox C-6 School District Board of Education vice president Todd Scott, who worked with Mr. Kasey as a teacher and as an assistant principal at Fox High.
Mr. Kasey taught geoscience courses at Fox High from 1971 through 2015. Along with teaching, he led the Fox Chess Club, Discovery Club and Weather Club.
“There are two qualities that every good teacher has, and he had both of those,” retired Fox administrator Jim Chellew said. “One is he had a passion for his subject area. He loved science. He made sure the kids were involved in active learning in the community. The other thing is he really enjoyed working in the company of young people. He had fun with them, and he will truly be missed. He made learning very interesting.”
During his teaching career, Mr. Kasey received the 2004 Walmart Good Works Teacher of the Year award, 1995 Jefferson County Educator of the Year award and 1988 and 2014 Excellence in Teaching awards from Emerson Electric.
Arnold Mayor Ron Counts declared May 2, 2015, Art Mr. Kasey Day, and Mr. Kasey received a diploma from Fox High with the 2015 graduating class.
“Art was beloved by all the staff and kids,” said Counts, a former Fox C-6 School District Board of Education member. “He had just a great rapport with the kids. I think they really enjoyed his science classes. I think they enjoyed the way he presented it. He was renowned throughout the school.
“He was a great guy in the community. After he retired, I put him on a community here and there, and his involvement in the school was his life. He just loved the school district and the kids in it.”
Mr. Kasey was a member of the first class to be inducted into the Fox High School Alumni and Staff Hall of Fame in March 2023. The school, which already had an athletic hall of fame, created the honor last year to recognize staff members who worked at the school for at least 15 years and students who had graduated at least 10 years prior to induction in the hall.
“I will always picture him in his white lab coat and being the teacher every student wanted to have,” Salsman said.
Mr. Kasey, who grew up in Kentucky, planned to be a geologist and was working on a doctorate in geology at the University of Missouri-Columbia when circumstances led him into teaching instead. He had worked part time as a teaching assistant at Mizzou and before that at the University of Tennessee.
“Since my arrival here I have been told stories about the icon and the legend, Mr. Kasey,” Superintendent Paul Fregeau said. “His love for the district and its students are exemplary. When I met the man, I was struck by his commitment to Fox throughout his entire life. He was truly Fox C-6 Strong.”
Mr. Kasey was known for filling his classroom with photos and oddities, like a (real, but not live) World War II Blockbuster bomb, and for using unusual teaching methods.
For example, he offered students cash prizes when they correctly followed clues to find one of the dozens of plastic “treasure tiles” he and his students hid on their travels around the world. Some of the tiles were found by former students at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and in Loch Ness, Scotland.
“His room was like a museum; it was like going to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago,” Chellew said. “There were artifacts everywhere. It was the most interesting place that you could walk into in the building. Just walking into the room, you would look at things and start asking questions. It was the way he got kids interested into science.”
Salsman said Mr. Kasey stopped by Fox High every Friday for the past seven or eight years to distribute gifts to staff members.
“He loved going to Goodwill, treasure shops or whatever, and he would find what stuff staff members enjoyed and bring them whatever he could find,” he said. “I once told him my oldest son loved the St. Louis Rams. Well, when my oldest son gets his own house and has a man cave, he will have the best St. Louis Rams man cave ever with as much stuff as Art Kasey brought to him. He did that for all kinds of staff members. He would do the same thing for the staff at Missouri Baptist (University in Arnold). He just loved giving back.”
Arnold Police Officer Kevin Wilson, Fox High’s school resource officer, said Mr. Kasey always gave him first pick of things the retired teacher brought to the school.
Wilson also said numerous officers at the Arnold Police Department are former students of Mr. Kasey.
“He was a very creative and generous man,” Wilson said. “The stories I would hear about his classrooms makes you wish you could go back and sit in one of his classrooms.
“He always reminded me that he supported the Arnold Police Department, Arnold community and that he loved Fox High School. His generosity to officers and school was very impressive. He touched a lot of people, including many of our own in our department. He is definitely a legacy to the city of Arnold.”
Fox High recently dedicated a section of its hallways to Mr. Kasey, and the school renamed his former classroom “Kasey’s Korner.”
The section of hallway that is now called “Art Kasey Avenue” is in the back corner of the third-wing hallway, which passes Mr. Kasey’s former classroom, No. 317.
Approximately 60 students, current and former staff members and Fox C-6 School District officials were at the high school on Sept. 20 when Mr. Kasey was invited to the surprise dedication ceremony.
Mr. Kasey was decked out in his trademark white lab coat, and he jokingly turned back down the hallway when everyone cheered for him when he turned the corner of the hallway dedicated to him.
“It is humbling,” Mr. Kasey said of the dedication. “It’s not the building or the room, it is the students who count.”
A display with Mr. Kasey’s Fox High School Alumni and Staff Hall of Fame banner and a collection of photos from his teaching career is hung in the portion of the hallway named after him.
“With what we found out (Oct. 21), I am just ecstatic that we were able to do that,” Salsman said.
Chellew said Mr. Kasey would visit him every Tuesday at the Missouri Baptist University location in Arnold.
“I am going to miss him an awful lot,” Chellew said. “He was a very good friend. He was just a really interesting guy.”
A visitation for Mr. Kasey will be held from 4-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Heiligtag-Lang-Fendler Funeral Home, 1081 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at New Hope United Methodist Church, 3921 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.