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FIRST PERSON
obvious loneliness. I eventually found friends, but the check-ins from my dad, his students and his co-workers never stopped. I took comfort in knowing the whole school was looking out for me.
His teaching gave me a sense of safety in the new-to-me world of public school, but it was his coaching that gave me real community outside of the school’ s walls.
My dad was born to coach. If one of the boys needed a place to crash when home life became too much, they were in our guest room. If they were slipping up at school, my dad would stay late to help them with their homework. His boys were his kids, and that meant they were our brothers. Every holiday, to this day, is celebrated with his athletes new and old. Growing up, I knew they always had my back as their honorary little sister.
Every boy I brought home was met with the image of my father and his track kids sitting on the couch, waiting to interrogate. If mom and dad got caught up at work, one of the boys would wait outside school to take me home and watch me and my sister until my parents came home.
Then 2011 hit, and my sister Scout was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My mom attended doctors’ appointments and treatments daily with Scout in Boston. An RN and the matriarchal heart of our family, it made sense she’ d stay with the sick child while my dad handled me, a nine-year-old who barely understood the gravity of the situation. He continued teaching and coaching, however hard it must have been during that time.
Not long after the diagnosis, my dad arrived at football practice, only to have a fellow coach lead him onto the field. There, the whole team gathered to reveal their new helmets, which donned a heart with my sister’ s initials.
I remember hearing him tell the story to my mom when he was recounting his day. I was watching the latest Disney Channel original movie in the living room. I thought to myself:“ Well, of course the team would act that way.” Whether it was protecting my fouryear-old self during a state championship celebration or helping me with math homework in between workouts, my dad’ s boys were always acting on the
28 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I OCTOBER 2026