Thursday, October 7, 1999 Older Editions

Final farewell to Mr. Robinson

By Rebecca Lipchitz

The late principal of Andover High School, Larry Robinson was likened to great leaders and a nurturing horticulturist at a memorial service in his honor Monday.

More than 100 students, faculty and family members gathered in the cold and drizzly evening Monday around a dogwood tree planted in the lawn in front of Andover High School in Robinson's memory.

Assistant Principal Marilyn Jordan says that students requested a memorial that would symbolize his lively energy, and be visible in front of the school, the way he was every day.

After a year-long battle with the disease, Robinson died of liver cancer Sept. 5, the Sunday before classes started this year.

His widow, Vicki Simms, principal of West Middle School, is back to work, but did not attend the service Monday. Friends and family members attended services in Sharon, Sept. 8, but no local services had been scheduled until parents and school administrators organized Monday's event.

Parent and School Council member Joan Cohen says students were seeking closure after Robinson's death.

"Their tribute was wonderful, but rather impromptu," Cohen says of the display of hats, flowers, and cups in the tennis court fence that read "We'll miss U" and "Hats off to Larry."

Teacher David Lussier spoke of Robinson as a supportive administrator and courageous leader. He quoted from Walt Whitman's O Captain, My Captain, about the death of a revered leader.

"O Captain, My Captain, rise up and hear the bells. Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills ... For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turn," Lussier read.

He marveled at Robinson's ability to come to school each day despite the pain he endured.

"I suspect school was, in fact, his best medicine," Lussier says, recalling a school dance Robinson attended during his last days despite being "so wracked with pain he could barely stand."

Students Jacqueline Morando and Jeremy Spiegel spoke in Robinson's honor.

Morando remembered his supportive nature while maintaining his authority as an administrator.

"There seemed to be no boundary. He always had that small smile that seemed to say, 'Don't worry, I'm your friend.'"

Spiegel read the conclusion of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses, "Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' /We are not now that strength which in old days/Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;/One equal temper of heroic hearts,/Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Faculty members gathered in a circle at the request of school psychologist Kerry Costello to plant daffodils around the tree students planted. Costello says the staff chose daffodils because they are one of the first signs of eager life to arrive in spring, symbolizing Robinson's energy, and because they are a symbol adopted by the American Cancer Society.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, much like the day that services were held in Sharon, Cohen noted after the ceremony that during Robinson's last year here, no measure of bad weather could keep him from his spot in front of the school when students arrived.