A defining presence at St. John’s, a standard-bearer for Prep values, and a custodian of the School’s mission, Chris Lynch leaves behind an inimitable legacy and a legion of ambassadors
St. John's Prep High School German teacher Christopher Paul Lynch, an inspiration to students, an elixir for colleagues, a selfless servant to others, and an active member of the Prep's campus community, passed away on February 25 after a series of strokes. He was 55.
Lynch was fond of song, smiles, touring, and all manner of schtick. A Germanophile, a lovable kvetcher, a show-dog owner, and a man whose adult identity was hardwired to St. John’s Prep, the Peabody resident and native of Canton leaves a cavernous void in the emotional heart of the School community.
A graduate of Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Mr. Lynch came to St. John’s in 1994 with an innate grasp of the values and ethos of Xaverian education. He earned his B.A. in Germanic studies at Boston College and an M.A.T. with a concentration in modern language from Boston University. He also studied at Heidelberg University in Germany. In 2006, he became the 14th Ryken Award honoree in Prep history and in 2019 he received an Excellence in Education Award from the Archdiocese of Boston’s Catholic Schools Office.
When asked to reflect on his colleague of 29 years, English teacher Jay Pawlyk ’91 P'23 immediately called to mind French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who once said, "Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God." That was Chris Lynch: a living expression of communion.
The impact of Mr. Lynch’s presence on campus extended beyond his classroom to virtually every aspect of school life, from academic departments to campus ministry, from the arts to athletics. He exemplified what it means to educate the whole student. As moderator of the award-winning Spire yearbook for 25 years, he created a collaborative environment and cultivated agency, guiding students to take ownership of the final product. A gifted photographer, especially in the realm of sports, he captured four decades of Prep memories on film and in pixels.
Lynch was a member of the Prep’s student-faculty a cappella group SwingTown! after joining in 2001 and routinely coordinated alumni singers’ return engagements on campus. His devotion to student immersion programs in Appalachia and through the Prep Leadership Institute—beware the Wheel of Torture Game Show—made manifest the reality that he dedicated his life to the St. John’s community. He led more than 20 student-enrichment trips abroad and even served as a summer supervisor at the School’s Camp Christopher.
“Each day is new, each day is different, and each day is fun,” said Lynch in a 2018 interview. “All of the external stuff fades away when I’m in front of the kids. That’s where I need to be. That’s home.”
“This is hard and difficult to comprehend,” said Head of School Ed Hardiman, Ph.D. P’19 ’21 ’26. “I am proud to be Chris’s friend and proud of the amazing work he’s done for the Prep community. Chris loved to share his talents and bring joy to others. He took a genuine interest in who you were as an individual. At his core, he was deeply focused on living the mission of Catholic and Xaverian education. Mr. Lynch was passionate about teaching German, but in his classroom he also created a environment in which each student was valued. He was committed to ensuring that everyone respected the dignity of each other.”
Hardiman and Lynch were classmates and friends at Xaverian, but Lynch liked to note that they first met in the spring of 1983 as eighth graders at a Sunday enrichment program, where they explored rocketry and photography. They shared the Prep campus since Hardiman became the School’s first lay principal in 2003.
“It’s so hard to think of St. John’s Prep without Chris,” said English teacher John Munro ’02, a colleague for 19 years. “He would know more about the kids I taught—who he didn’t teach—than I did. He was so good at connecting with kids in that way, knowing their real-life stories.”
Munro collaborated with Lynch—along with hundreds of students—throughout a decade of service immersion in Grundy, VA. The annual April trip to Appalachia involved staying at a local parish center, rehabbing dilapidated houses in partnership with a local nonprofit, and making connections with impoverished residents.
“Chris was not a handy person and never picked up a hammer down there, but he willed the kids to be present with the people in the community,” said Munro. “The kids were all about the power tools, but he made sure every kid on a work site truly engaged with the families we were trying to help. The relationships he built with the people down there were inspiring. It was a home to him for one week a year. He was so at peace and happy, and he knew he was doing something really meaningful by giving the kids that seminal piece of a Catholic education. Chris saw the community there as family. He wanted the kids to really ‘see’ those people and he hoped they’d leave that experience wanting to serve others in their own lives.”
ACCOMPANIMENT
Lynch’s path to the Prep was indirect. He attended Trinity College as a freshman, but the German department there had just one professor, so he transferred and earned his degree at BC. “As my father used to say, ‘that plus 50 cents will buy you a cup of coffee,’” Lynch used to joke, followed by his rich, baritone laugh.
He found a job at a sandwich shop following graduation and after six months, his German teacher at Xaverian asked him to be a short-term substitute. “I had no idea how to fill 42 minutes of class time yet, but I got the bug to teach.” In another case of serendipity, after Lynch earned his master’s and completed a teaching practicum at Xaverian, Brother Joe Comber, C.F.X. ’58, a longtime German teacher at the Prep, decided to retire. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
As teenagers, whenever Lynch was at his house, Hardiman recalls his mother routinely asking Lynch to play the piano. “Chris could play any song with no sheet music—it was awesome.” Lynch later played keyboard and performed vocals in a band called The Blues Barons from 2002–2016. Close friends Gene Baron ’70, a retired Latin teacher from the Prep; the late Pat Henaghan, another former colleague in the World Languages Department; science teacher Gary Smith P'12; and religious studies teacher Michael Leonard P'24 were also in the group. It was another illustration of his lifelong love affair with music.
“He always had a soundtrack to everything,” said Latin teacher Elizabeth Solomon. “In almost any situation, he’d mention an accompanying song to match the mood. He was also a brilliant storyteller. I think that’s because he was always in the moment with all of his senses, his head and his heart. When he experienced things, he did so completely and he loved sharing the whole spectrum of emotions.”
Campus Minister Owen Gaffney ’20 encountered this phenomenon as both a student and colleague.
“Mr. Lynch’s legacy is in all of you: the countless students he taught, the colleagues he encouraged, and the lives he influenced in ways we may never fully realize,” he said when speaking to the School community at a Thursday prayer service honoring Lynch’s life. “Each time you choose kindness, each time you work hard at something that matters, each time you lift someone else up, you carry a piece of Mr. Lynch’s legacy forward. Herr Lynch was an Übermensch.”
“I’m so grateful for his friendship and the mentorship he offered over the years,” said Ryan Millerick ’08, who now lives in Germany and works as an executive at BMW after initially falling in love with the country on a student trip with Mr. Lynch. “He was a truly decent, kind, and loving man. He never forgot details of stories I had told him and was so proud of my trajectory and career. I always told him that I owed him eternally. My life would not be the same, professionally or personally, without his influence.”
Within 24 hours of the announcement of Lynch’s death, scores of alumni, parents, and community members representing every decade of his time at St. John’s shared recollections, condolences, and messages of gratitude online. Lynch was memorialized as “life-changing,” a “father figure,” a “man of infinite wisdom,” the “quintessential educator,” and a “constant force of kindness and humor.”
Indeed, Lynch trafficked in the entire bandwidth of comedy, from heady satire to knock-knock jokes. His older brother, Richard, attributes that purely to growing up as the last of six kids in a punchline-potent family.
“His humor is straight from the family tree,” he said. “Chris made everybody happy in the family. He was the peacemaker. He’d get along with everybody. If someone was fighting, he was the go- between.”
Richard said the two of them texted daily and grew even closer in recent years as they shared similar medical challenges and even a living space when Richard moved in with him for a while. Though at times put-upon by the presence of his big brother’s boisterous beagle, Lynch took note that the dog was a source of comfort and exercise. This ultimately prompted the arrival of Günther, the Border Terrier. “That dog was a godsend in Chris’s life,” said Richard. “I don’t think he loved anything as much as he loved that dog, including a lot of people.”
For Mary Kiley P'12, a religious studies teacher at the Prep since 2002, the sense of loss is multilayered as she and Lynch were neighbors and close friends. “Everybody who spoke with him knew and loved him—faculty, staff, parents, students. For me, Chris was my anchor here at St. John’s. He was the first person to really greet me when I came. He handed me a yearbook and said, ‘Welcome aboard. This might help you get to know people faster.’ We were like brother and sister. We traveled together. My kids knew him since elementary school. My son Jack took German with him. What will I miss the most? Probably the best friend a person could have.”
Retired Spanish teacher and fellow Ryken winner Wendy Larivee P’99 developed that same, sibling-like bond with Lynch.
“I loved Chris like a brother for more than 30 years,” she said. “He was astoundingly intelligent. His knowledge of music, musicians, and songs was second to none. Chris was generous with his time and in class preparation. His knowledge of Prep lore was remarkable. If something was bothering you, Chris was the person to talk with. If you wanted the truth, you asked Chris. He was very proud of his family. He regaled colleagues with great stories of their gatherings and events. Chris was fun, hilarious to be around, brilliant, well-traveled, a wonderful teacher, and profoundly loyal to family, friends, and St John’s Prep.”
“I know everybody is unique and irreplaceable, but he’s uniquely irreplaceable,” added the Prep’s Pawlyk. “I mean, things moved and moments happened just because he was there. He was one of those people.” Retired Spanish teacher, former Swingtown! member, and 2016 Ryken winner Leslie Tremblay characterized Lynch as “someone who could talk to anyone and someone for whom everything was a song cue; he was happy to be alive, happy for every moment of his day, and just fun to be around.” Math teacher and 2018 Ryken winner Liz Starr described him as “all compassion, wit, and curmudgeon—a rule-follower who didn’t take things too seriously.”
The 2003 Spire yearbook was dedicated in Lynch’s name, honoring him for devoting “so much of his life and energy to making St. John’s a better place” and for being “an amazing teacher, a superb mentor, and a great friend.”
Perhaps it’s most appropriate, then, for Lynch himself to have the last word on how he drew a daily sense of purpose from witnessing students grow and discover their unique talents.
“You never know where your influence starts and where it’s going to end,” he said in 2018. “I get to see students’ journeys and that sphere of influence is really inspiring to me. Seeing the great things our alumni do out in the world and remembering what they were like freshman year, well, that connection and those enduring relationships gives me a broader perspective. You know the saying, ‘They might forget what you tell them, but they won’t forget how you made them feel?’ That’s how I’ve tried to model my career.”