Timothy F. Lyons, who grew up in Levittown, Long Island in the 1950s and 1960s and went on to teach English at Island Trees Junior High School for over 30 years, died at his Bethpage home on Friday. His funeral is scheduled for Tuesday morning at St. Ignatius Loyola R.C. church in Hicksville.
Lyons graduated from Island Trees H.S. in 1967, lettering in basketball. He briefly attended New Haven College in Connecticut on a scholarship but returned to his native New York to earn his undergraduate (1971) and master's degrees in English at St. John's University in Jamaica Estates.
His love for education and his fondness for the Island Trees school district became the focal point of his life, as he taught English to his beloved students for 34 years. During his tenure, he also coached junior varsity basketball at Island Trees and North Shore H.S. in Glen Head, NY. Lyons retired from his teaching post in 2006. From his teenage years until last summer in retirement, he often spent time at Jones Beach and considered it among his favorite places in the world.
"Tim's early years provided the opportunity to experience life in a new rural community far from the urban settings most knew at the time," said Lyons' younger brother Thomas, 54, who hails from Farmingdale. "It was a great time to grow up on Long Island. There were new houses with wide-open spaces and no fences. There was Little League, Newsday paper routes and the heyday of rock and roll. As time progressed, there was a call to a new generation of Americans, the turbulence of yet another conflict in a far-off land and the onset of the radical culture of the '60s. Tim enjoyed the challenge of living his life during this unique time in the history of our country. And, there are hundreds, if not thousands of Island Trees students who benefitted from his knowledge and unique perspective as a Long Islander."
The family has requested, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the following charities:
The Jimmy V Fund for Cancer Research
www.jimmyv.org
or
Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund
800 K Street, N.W. Suite 1100
Washington D.C. 20001
http://www.hoopdreams.org
2 comments:
Here's a piece of the parquet for Timmy...
http://www.legacy.com/Newsday/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=104788976
This nice comment from Joe Favorito:
On a personal note, I would like to pass on my thoughts and prayers to the family of fellow blogger, longtime colleague and good friend Terry Lyons and his family, who lost his brother Tim to colon cancer. Terry is a true standup guy and is one of the NBA’s, and basketball’s best publicity guys ever, and I am very excited for all the new horizons he and his family are taking on in his post-NBA career in Boston. However this loss sucks, and I am very sorry, T.
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