This item ran in Long Island Newsday: (click on headline above for the link):
ISLAND TREES TEACHER, COACH TIMOTHY LYONS, 59
By Laura Albanese, Newsday reporter, laura.albanese@newsday.com
It was the spring of 1971 and Timothy Lyons, then 22, was ready to impart some life lessons to his younger brother Terry.
Terry, 11, had never been to Madison Square Garden and, perhaps more important, had never seen Timothy's beloved St. John's University play in the arena. And Timothy Lyons - who lived and breathed basketball, family members said - wanted to share his love for the game.
His passion for the sport, Terry said, was infectious. Motivated by his older brother, Terry would go on to become Vice President of International Communications for the NBA. Timothy, meanwhile, proved to be a natural born teacher. He taught middle school English in the Island Trees School District for 34 years before retiring in 2006 and coached basketball there for more than a decade.
Timothy Lyons died Friday at his Bethpage home, likely from complications from colon cancer, family members said. He was 59.
"He's a great guy," said Terry Lyons of Manhattan. "I'll tell stories from my first trip to The Garden all night long - parking in Queens and taking the GG local to the Garden as a kid. I'll never forget it."
Timothy, the oldest of three, provided the same lesson for the middle brother, Thomas, 54. It was a basketball family and Timothy was the headmaster, Terry said.
In roundabout way, it would be that love of sports that would help Timothy find his calling: literature and education, Thomas said. As a fourth grader, Timothy would hand in sports essay after sports essay to his teacher, Carol Gabia. By Grade 6, Gabia had seen Timothy's potential but encouraged him to broaden his horizons. Timothy eagerly complied.
"The light would shine and the sun would come out when he talked about Mrs. Gabia," Thomas said. "I really think that's where he got his love for literature and education."
"He just became hooked on the whole concept of education and what it meant to be that close to literary works," said Thomas Lyons of Farmingdale.
Timothy Lyons graduated from Island Trees H.S. in 1967 and went on to get his Masters degree in English at St. John's. In 1972, he began teaching at Island Trees, and later he coached at the junior varsity level for both Island Trees and North Shore High School.
"He reached a lot of students," Thomas said. "Six classes a day for 34 years, you can just add the numbers."
In addition to his brothers, Timothy Lyons is survived by his wife of 18 years, Susan, his four children - Timothy, 33 of Mt Sinai; Christopher, 30 of Levittown; Sean, 27, of Chicago, IL; and Paul, 26, of Bethpage - and hsi mother, Genevieve, 83 of Island Trees.
The funeral yesterday morning was in St. Ignatius Loyola R.C. Church in Hicksville. Burial will be at Holy Rood Cemetary and it will be private.
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