Death of ‘truly gifted’ teacher left school reeling. Fund for family, award created.

Keith Durham, a math teacher at Lexington’s Winburn Middle School had recently been helping some of his gifted and accelerated students prepare for an advanced exam.

“They took the test (on a ) Saturday morning, and then shortly thereafter ... found out of his passing,” said principal Mike Hale.

Durham, 50, died of a heart attack Nov. 2. The impact of his loss on the school has been huge, said Hale, and the staff has decided they will create a new annual academic award for eighth grade students in Durham’s honor.

“He did so many things here,” said Hale.

Durham was an academic team coach at the school, was involved in academic teams at district and state level, and was the math team coach. He worked with the chess club.

“He was truly, truly gifted in mathematics, but he could also relate and teach it to the kids, which is rare. Most of the time if you are that advanced, you can’t break it down to where middle schoolers can get it. And he could,” said Hale.

The school recently held a celebration of life for Durham at Winburn, drawing more than 100 people who shared stories and paid tribute to his contributions.

Durham, Hale said, was a man who liked to joke and laugh, known for wearing button up short sleeve shirts and goofy ties -- “he never wore the same one twice.”

Hale said the details of the new award are being worked out. The school also currently has a “courage” award to remember the late Tom Cannon, a teacher at Winburn who died of cancer a few years ago. Durham was hired to replace Cannon.

Durham “was uncommonly humble and generous for someone of his talent,” said district math specialist Natalee Feese, who said she had worked with Durham throughout his career.

“He was willing to spend time and trade ideas with kids and teachers and parents and colleagues,” she said. “He drew math out of the world and he drew math-thought out of students in a way that was challenging and fun.”

Durham’s fellow teachers have started a “Go Fund Me” page to help his wife and three children with expenses, which as of Tuesday had collected nearly $15,000 of a $20,000 goal.

A description on the Go Fund Me page said that Durham whose “contributions will live on in his students,” previously taught at Henry Clay High School, Leestown Middle School, and Lexington Traditional Magnet School.

One post on the page, from a group who simply called itself , “Winburn Sunshine,” said, “We loved Mr. Durham and he brought so much Sunshine to our school.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 2:08 PM.