Krause: Dick Lynch was the real deal
Apr 20, 2018John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott on Thursday. (Spenser R. Hasak)Very often, the people we remember most in our lives are the ones who were the toughest on us — the ones who wouldn’t let us skate by with a lack of effort, and weren’t impressed with our attempts to BS our way through life.We’ve all experienced such people. They recognize something inside us that we may not even know we have, and they work like the devil to pull it out of us.Much of the time, these people are teachers and coaches. And they’re much more effective than our own parents because they see us much more objectively, and they don’t feel the instinct to make excuses for us.The real good ones can seem uncompromising, but at the same time, they care. They may often seem as cross and harsh as U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks conducting goal line-to-goal line skating drills. But nobody’s prouder when all is said and done, and nobody’s more eager to give credit where credit is due than they are.They understand that while they worked diligently to pull it out of you, at the same time you had to want it badly enough to allow yourself to be pushed.Dick Lynch was such a man. I grew up during the days of Swampscott athletic glory, and while I didn’t deal with him as a football player or a gym student, I knew, and still know, plenty of people who did. And the portrait of him is always consistent. He was tough. He was uncompromising. He demanded your best and let you know in no uncertain terms when he didn’t think you were giving it. And he didn’t care who you were either.But there had to be close to a thousand people in and around Swampscott who cared who he was. That’s the number of people who filed past his coffin at St. John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott Wednesday night. Another 300, according to Brian Field of Solimine Funeral Homes, filled St. John’s for the funeral Thursday.Just the idea of having a wake in the church, as opposed to a funeral home, was a telling acknowledgment of how much of an impact Dick Ly... (Daily Item)
