Ms. Wing

            Lorraine, Gene, Weston, thank you for this opportunity to remember Reid’s middle school years.  On behalf of the LMS faculty, I tell you that special prayers are in our hearts for you and your entire family, for Bethany, and her family, and for Reid’s dear friends and their families.  You shared him with us all and have made our lives richer.  Throughout Reid’s battle over these past two years, his well-being has been the first mentioned when teachers would start conversations.  He has been the center of our prayers and the focus of our hopes.  Today our sincere wish for  you is Christ’s peace; we know Reid has already found it.

            As teachers, God gives us the gift of out students.  We share in their joys and ache with their losses long after our young people leave our classrooms.  We just don’t conceive of good-byes like today.

            Reid’s life serves as a mirror for each of us.  As his mom said to me on the phone Sunday, “He was so much heart, so much a scholar; he taught others.  He shared so much.”

            I borrow the words of a poet when I say Reid “had every gift except length of years,” but just look at the love he compressed into those years and the way he shared his personal attributes and talents in his unassuming way.  He cherished life.  He loved people.  He valued learning.  He was jus our “Renaissance guy” with a passion for everything, be it academics, music, swimming, technology, or just plain fun.

            As a fifth grader, he came to Lynnfield Middle School with his boundless intellectual curiosity.  Mrs. DeCorta chatted with Reid during her visit at the hospital only a couple of weeks ago.  They talked about many things and she said, “Only Reid would think of using walnuts as the ships for the moving pieces for a game he had created.”  She also remembered the Freedom Trail walk; when Reid got tired, his mom just automatically piggy-backed him along the red brick sidewalks.  What a team!

            In an email Ms. Moritz sent from Florida a while ago with prayers for Reid, she recalled his kindness.  She described an incident in the fifth grade corridor when a student from her homeroom was having a rough day and dropped his books and pencil box.  The poor little guy was reduced to tears.  Reid saw this from a bit of a distance and didn’t hesitate to simply go over and start picking up the scattered pencils.

            Sixth grade teachers like Mrs. Schott and Ms.  O’Neill describe Reid as “amazing in his own quiet way.  He always had a special way…He was always a little professor personality who got along with the world.”

            Mrs. Macadino describes Reid as “a unique young man, a beautiful combination of intelligence, kindness, and curiosity.  He was always interested in many things and loved to learn.  He never settled for the minimum…He always wanted to stretch his mind.  He was open to everything.”

            Ms. Maffeo describes Reid as “a young man who made you feel good just being in his presence.”  Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Taylor remarked that it was such a treat to know a student like Reid because “he valued every bit of learning.  He set a tone that peers noticed.”  Ms. Hatch said she didn’t have the pleasure of being Reid’s teacher but was always impressed with him.  “He was a good kid in the truest sense of the word.”

            In the eighth grade, Reid continued to make an impression.  Mr. Taris recalled the egg  mobile competition and how Reid’s “attitude about learning was so apparent.”  Mrs. Lanzillo remarked how Reid “made his mark in a quiet way; he never called attention to himself, but other kids noticed.”

            When chatting about Reid, Mrs. Petrin often used the phrase, “just plain good” as she smiled softly.

            Last fall when I asked Mr. Russell if I could have class coverage to attend the Masses for Reid on the days of his surgeries, there was no hesitation.  Among his words were, “We’ve seen so many students walk in our halls, and each has been valuable, but Reid is one who sticks out and makes you smile when you think about him.”

            As for this old language arts teacher, I have a brown leather journal that Reid gave me at the end of eighth grade.  You see, when I’d come across a quote or an excerpt, I’d jot it on a post-it note and add it to the triangle painted on the wall behind my desk so I use it as a metaphor or a starter to get our class’s creative juices flowing.  One day, when the post-its kept falling, Reid simply said, “You need to come up with a better system, Ms. Wing.”  Who was I to argue with a young man wearing a Friar Laurence costume for our Romeo  and Juliet lessons?  After he gave me the journal, I taped the quotes into it and have continued to use is over the years.

            Recently, I loaned my journal to a young relative of mine who is preparing to be a teacher.  I called her the over the weekend and asked her to look at the pages marked school year 98-99.  I was stunned as she read a few of the entries because they were so directly related to the legacy Reid has given to all of us.  These are a few of the entries, and the variety of people quoted so vividly reflects the many facets of Reid’s interests:

“Faith is what you are left with when nothing else makes sense.”  Miracle on 34^th Street

“I have run the good race…I have fought the good fight.”  from St. Paul’s letters

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breaths away.”   Unknown

“A soul that adds beauty and grace to life creates something wonderful that lasts forever.”  Unknown

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.  It is the life in your years.”  Abraham Lincoln

“A person of character possesses truth, grace, balance,  courage, and wisdom.”  Gandhi

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”  Albert Einstein

“Life is not always based on the answers we receive, but also on the questions we ask.”  Christy Carter Koski

“I’m not afraid of the storm.  I am learning to sail my ship.”  Louisa May Alcott

“Happiness is a how, not a what;  a talent, not an object.”  Hermann Hesse

“Don’t wait  for  your ship to come in; row out and meet it, and you don’t have a boat, swim.”

“Go placidly amid the noise and haste…and remember what peace  there may be in the silence.”  Desiderata

            I know for sure that the joy that Reid gave us has to be more powerful than our sadness today.  The love that he shared with each of us has to be stronger than our pain.  The courage he modeled for us has to be the example that we follow as we come to terms with his death.  The grace that he showed every day has to instill in us the undeniable belief that his is experiencing something now that we can’t even imagine.

            The way we handle Reid’s passing must reflect his life.  We can’t let Reid down; he would expect more from us.  And he certainly never let us down.  We don’t have to let go;  we just have to learn how to stay connected with him in a different way.  It will be hard, but thank you Reid.  You were the teacher and we’ve learned well.