BARNSTABLE, MA - John H. Lynch, 65, formerly of Winchester, died Sunday, April 4, 2004.

An outstanding high school athlete, he became well known as center of Winchester High School's state championship teams in the mid-50s. Legendary basketball coach Ted Bartlett recognized his potential and visiting the then eighth-grader at home, presented him with a basketball and the advice that if he applied himself he could become a skilled player.

As predicted, Mr. Lynch became center of a team that featured an all-star cast including Joe Bellino, 1961 Navy Heisman Award winner. Having won two Tech Tournament Championships, the team they co-captained voted to move up a division to Class A, losing in the finals to Durfee High of Fall River in the last seconds of the game. He went on to play basketball while a student at UMass and remained an enthusiastic supporter of Winchester's Youth Basketball for the rest of his life.

In 1960, he joined his father in the operation of the Hodge Boiler Works, a manufacturing company founded in 1865, and situated for over 100 years on Boston Harbor. As president of Hodge, starting in the 1970s, he represented the fourth generation of the Lynch family to hold that position. He began as a fabricator of boilers needed to convert clipper ships to steamships. Over the years, the Hodge name came to be identified with the highest standard in the manufacture of quick-opening doors for pressure vessels used in a variety of applications. The Hodge property is currently in the planning stages of development for a multi-use waterfront complex, part of which will retain the nostalgic name of the Hodge Boiler Works.

John and Judy Lynch admiring a deck prism in 1994

An avid outdoorsman, Mr. Lynch enjoyed all aspects of nature. Having spent many boyhood summer days ocean fishing with his father, Mr. Lynch once caught a blue-fin tuna in local waters that weighed in at more than 900 pounds.

His love of the ocean was continued later in life when he became an experienced sailor, signing on to crew on sailing ships, whether tall or small. He was enthralled by the sea, and became an active supporter and participant in many maritime organizations such as the American Sail Training Association, the National Maritime Historical Society and aboard schooners such as Gloucester's Adventure, Boston's Pilot, New Bedford's Ernestina, Spirit of Massachusetts, Lettie G. Howard, Harvey Gamage and the Anne Kristine. He never missed the Gloucester Schooner Race held over Labor Day weekend, a magnificent gathering of ships every year.

This photo of John in the Greek Fisherman's cap (to the left) was taken on the final sail of the Pilot out of Gloucester with Norm Paulsen in black leather jacket and also in Greek cap at the helm. The ship left the dock with nothing being said. Norm just decided it was time to go, and somehow, the lines got cast off! Someone forgot to keep tension on the tops'l sheets as the main was raised and one became jammed in the block on the end of the gaff. The mate, some cowpuncher from Montana, walked out on the gaff and cut the line.

John's striking photographs of ships and nautical scenes further expressed his passion, earning him the family nickname "Schooner."

At the request of the family, contributions in Mr. Lynch's memory have been made to the Schooner Ernestina Commission, P.O. Box 2010, New Bedford, MA 02741-2010.

More than $5,000 has thus far been received. We share the warm regards toward John of his many friends and appreciate their generosity in their gifts to the Schooner Ernestina.

John Lynch and Sukey Padawer (former HIOBS instructor and former crew on Spirit of Massachusetts) taken around 1992 in Gloucester after a fundraiser breakfast aboard the Adventure

John Lynch aboard for one of the many Gloucester Schooner Races over Labor Day weekend with Laurie Belisle and Elizabeth Buckley. No wonder he never missed a race!

John Lynch and Michael Todd taken outside the Cambridge Boat Club at the Head of the Charles Regatta in 1991, when Michael was co-chair of the Launch Committee

 

John Lynch and Michael Todd aboard the Anne Kristine in 1991

John Lynch and Director Gregg Swanzey on Ernestina during the Gloucester Schooner Race in 1997

Gordon Grant, John's neighbor from Yale Street in Winchester, one of the Pilot crew, Elizabeth Buckley,  and John, probably around 1992