Germanna instructor helped Howard Stern learn to believe in himself

Ray Gill, an instructor at Germanna Community College's Center for Workforce & Community Education, has a ringing endorsement from a surprising source--famous shock jock Howard Stern, who says Gill helped him learn to believe in himself.

In 1975, when he was 21, Stern left his Long Island, N.Y., home to come to the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics near Shannon Airport on the recommendation of a friend.

In 1993, when Stern published his autobiography "Private Parts," which later became a film, he sent a copy of the book to Gill. Stern inscribed it: "To the man who made it all possible."

He also sent Gill a letter that said: "You have no idea how many times over the years I told everyone my war stories about my summer in Fredericksburg.

"Let me go on the record and tell you how much your class meant to me," Stern wrote. "It proved to me that I could do anything if I put my mind to it. Your style and confidence were inspirational, and there isn't another teacher in the world like you."

Gill teaches management classes at Germanna's Center for Workforce.