Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel
GLASTONBURY — Many in the community who fondly remembered Richard Lakin as the "warm" and "patient" principal at Hopewell School said they were shocked to discover that he was one of the victims of a brutal a terrorist attack in Jerusalem Tuesday.
Lakin was in critical condition at a Jerusalem hospital after he was one of the passengers who was shot and stabbed by two assailants on a Jerusalem bus Tuesday before the attackers were shot by police, according to Lakin's family members and news reports about the incident.
"This morning he was stabbed and shot by murderous Islamic terrorists during an attack on a bus in Jerusalem. We are with him in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital where he is fighting for his life. Please pray for him," someone who identified himself as Lakin's son Micah posted on Facebook shortly after the attack Tuesday.
Anne Alvord, who worked with Lakin as a teacher and language arts consultant at Hopewell School, recalled him Wednesday as "naturally respectful and gentle and effective."
"He was a very peaceful man in the way he worked with his teachers and students," Alvord said. "That was his magic, really."
Alvord said it came as a shock to many when Lakin announced in the early 1980s that he would be leaving his longtime job as principal at Hopewell School to move his wife and two young children to Israel. Lakin served as principal at Hopewell from 1969 to 1984, according to information he posted online.
"It was a deep longing on his part," Alvord recalled of the Lakins' move to Israel. "I think he just needed to refresh himself." Alvord said that as a principal Lakin was "good at problem-solving."
"He was a democratic guy who brought the best out of you," she recalled.
Joan Kimble, a former Glastonbury resident who worked with Lakin and his wife, Karen, in a human rights council group that brought inner city Hartford children to summer camps in Glastonbury in the 1960s, said he was also surprised when the Lakins announced their move in the early 1980s.
"I don't think anybody expected it. They were just so well grounded in the community," Kimble recalled. "They told me that it was just something that they had to do."
Kimble recalled Lakin Wednesday as a "very gentle, kind person."
Helen Stern, a longtime member of the Glastonbury Board of Education, remembered Lakin as a "very child-oriented" administrator.
Ruthanne Hadley said that Lakin hired her as a first-grade teacher the year before he moved his family to Israel and remembered him as a "wonderful principal" and a pragmatic person. She said Lakin reminded her of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"He just wanted everything to be equal and fair," Hadley said. "He was very kind and generous to everyone."
Joshua Lakin, Richard Lakin's nephew, said Wednesday evening that he had spoken to Lakin's sons at the hospital around 6 p.m., who told him that Lakin was still listed in critical condition but that doctors had been able to stabilize him. Joshua Lakin said that Richard Lakin been stabbed in the neck and lower abdomen and shot in the hip and that he was undergoing surgery to repair damage to his organs.
Joshua Lakin said that his uncle continued to teach when he moved to Israel and was active in a number of groups that sought peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
"He just loves people, cares about people and wants everybody to get along," Joshua Lakin said. "He shouldn't have been a victim."Ex-Glastonbury School Principal Victim Of Attack In Israel - Hartford Courant:
Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Home > Home http://bit.ly/1Lly9iQ
Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher ... - Richard Lakin - Google Books http://bit.ly/1LlyimB
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