The late Tim Ring is the most recent in a sad string of losses for Lynn residents. It is a loss — like the ones that preceded it — that has hit the city hard.
Ring’s death last Saturday from medical complications came on the heels of three other losses that sent many city residents into mourning. English High School basketball coach Mike Carr and veteran former St. Mary’s educator Michele Durgin died at the end of January and beloved public school principal Vic Tseki died in February.
Taken individually, these deaths leave hundreds of family members and friends feeling a never-to-be-filled void in their lives. Taken collectively, the loss of four sterling educators is almost too difficult to fathom.
Tim Ring was that rare man who embraced the pursuit of knowledge with a childlike zeal. He was also a master craftsman who felt comfortable around an unfinished home or a piece of antique furniture crying out for restoration.
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Some people shy away from exploring the unknown and from facing a challenge and saying, “I can master that.” Not Tim Ring. With what one good friend described as Ring’s “‘rascal’ attitude,” the veteran educator shouldered new projects and launched new educational ventures with his characteristic mix of humility and offbeat humor.
Ring hated talking about himself. But he loved being around people who caught the learning bug from him. He loved seeing students look around Lynn and realize they are not limited by their surroundings, just the limits of their dreams.
Ring, like Carr, Durgin and Tseki, believed in public education’s essential fairness. They knew that every kid is different. But they also knew that the right teacher, even a teacher who spends 10 minutes listening to a kid, can set a young person on a course toward hope, prosperity and self confidence.
Ring logged a 39-year teaching career. Top public school administrators hailed him as the school system’s most veteran educator when he retired last summer. In true Tim Ring fashion, Ring brushed off that praise with a funny, mischievous glint in his eye. He was a guy who went through life appreciating the moments when the joke was on him.
It will be easy to measure the influence Tim Ring had on Lynn residents. The number of people paying their respects to his family and to his memory will be as long as the lines that snaked through wakes memorializing Carr, Durgin and Tseki.
Everyone who spends a few minutes remembering Tim Ring this week will silently say, “I wish he could have met my son or my daughter.” “I wish we could talk about books one more time.” “I wish we could laugh together one more time.”
What will it mean to Lynn to lose Tim Ring and fellow educators who died since the year began? The city will be all the poorer for not having their counsel, their wisdom and their love to help guide it forward.