Dr. Gerald Rankin was a new face to most of his students this year. But to many of their mothers, he’s an old, familiar face.

Rankin was the obstetrician who delivered many of their children, some of whom he’s now teaching biology at Vicksburg High.

&#8220It’s been a wonderful experience seeing them as teenagers now,” said Rankin, 62. &#8220You’ve got kids here like you’ve got everywhere – some with problems, some without problems, some who work hard and some who don’t. You just have to keep them interested. That’s the trick.”

Rankin, a Tallulah native, moved to Vicksburg in 1973 after completing medical school at the University of Tennessee. He worked as an obstetrician with The Street Clinic and then in a private practice before retiring in 1998.

&#8220I had gotten to the point where I was a granddocter. I was delivering the babies of babies I delivered years ago,” he said.

After retirement, Rankin decided to pursue his other love, music.

&#8220As a child, I had the choice of two careers – music or medical,” he said. &#8220I chose medical, but I always still loved music.”

Rankin started taking violin at 4, and by 5 he was taking two-week trips to Chicago twice a year for private lessons. He played through high school. He was a soloist with the Monroe-Twin Cities Orchestra at 9 and a concert master in the Louisiana All-Star Orchestra at 15.

Rankin set down the violin when he headed off to college and didn’t pick it up again until 1997, when he became involved with the St. Joseph Orchestra.

&#8220I never forgot how to play,” he said.

After retiring from medicine, Rankin worked full-time with the orchestra.

&#8220I was concert master until last year,” he said. &#8220I was teaching private lessons. I taught kids who went on to become concert masters.”

Teaching always came natural, Rankin said.

&#8220Whether it was teaching new nurses or doctors or teaching students violin, I loved teaching in general,” he said.

So when he was looking last year for a new way to spend retirement, teaching seemed the obvious direction.

&#8220I talked with Superintendent James Price, and the next thing I knew, I was here at Vicksburg High teaching biology,” he said.

&#8220I had no idea what a difficult job this is,” he said. &#8220The people here are heroes.”

Rankin said he had to re-learn some of the material, like botany, but other units, like the bloodflow to the heart, he dealt with on a daily basis.

&#8220It didn’t take long to re-learn anything. I just wanted to be more than a day ahead of my students,” he said.

His wife, Dotti, who has taught at Bowmar Elementary for 25 years, has been a source of support.

&#8220I never knew how much homework went into this job, but she would tell me, ‘You just wait. You’ll see,’” he said.

And now, out of the 80 students he teaches, Rankin guesses he delivered about a third of them.

&#8220I told them on the first day I used to deliver babies and I probably delivered some of them. I told them if they were curious, they could ask their mamas,” he said. &#8220The next day, I definitely had several come back and say, ‘You delivered me!’”.

Rankin said the hardest part about his new job is discipline.

&#8220The energy of these kids is amazing,” he said.

With teaching, there’s always the point when the lightbulb goes off in the student’s head, and that’s worth all the effort, he said.

&#8220With violin, it’s when a kid hears himself play something great and they think to themselves, ‘Did I just do that?’ With classroom teaching, it’s seeing a kid realize that someone cares about them and how they do… It’s seeing them realize they can do it,” he said.

One of his students, Terea Jenkins, said she wishes all of her teachers were like Rankin.

&#8220He didn’t deliver me, but I like him a lot. When we have stuff that is hard to learn, he really breaks it down for us. He knows a lot firsthand from being a doctor rather than just learning it in school,” said Terea, 15.

Rankin is working with school officials to establish a strings program next year, preferably in the intermediate or junior high schools, he said.

&#8220The younger I can reach these kids, the better,” he said.

But he won’t abandon biology.

&#8220I love teaching both, and I know what I’m doing with both. I’m just lucky to have several dream careers,” he said.

And the part about being a &#8220granddoctor” back when he was practicing medicine, Rankin expects to experience again.

&#8220I’m sure I’ll teach a few who are the children of babies I delivered. That tends to happen when you deliver babies for 25 years.”