UPDATED: Lincoln-Sudbury Mourns Death of Teacher

The following is from Lincoln-Sudbury Superintendent/Principal Scott Carpenter:

One of our teachers, Amy Butler, passed away on February 13th after battling cancer. Her passing brings with it great sadness for many in our school community. Some of our students have lost someone near and dear to them. Our teachers have lost someone who many considered a friend and mentor.

Amy joined the Lincoln-Sudbury faculty in 2001 as a special educator. Over the intervening 12 years, Amy helped many struggling students find success in high school. In recent years, she had been working with students in our alternative programs.

Amy was one of those special few educators, whom I consider truly transformative. She was able to work with a child struggling with poor self-esteem and academic weaknesses and nurture a sense of self-worth and academic success. She was one of the most skilled educators Iíve known, adeptly teaching students across the spectrum of disabilities.

During my tenure at Lincoln-Sudbury, some of the high school's greatest success stories came from Amy's caseload. One of Amy's students stopped by my office after hearing this sad news. Only last week did she come to understand the battle that Amy had been fighting. Like many of us, she was looking back and wishing she had had one last chance to say goodbye and to thank Amy for touching her life.

Today many of us are in that same place, reflecting back, remembering, and wanting to say thank you to a special person. While our time with Amy has been cut short, our community was very fortunate to have had her making differences in childrenís lives for the past dozen years.

Over the course of her battle with cancer, it was the hope of returning to support her students that fueled her resilience. Even as the illness rapidly progressed towards the end, Amy was making lists and thoughtfully planning on ways we could best help her students. Her dedication to make a difference in the lives of others is what Amy would want each of us to pay forward.

As a community, I hope we will make this happen.

Scott Carpenter Superintendent/Principal

From the Amy Butler's family:

We will be having a memorial service for Amy this Sunday, February 17, at 1:00 pm at the Warren Center in Ashland, MA to celebrate Amy's life. This will be a casual affair - wear your Life is Good and Patriots gear to remember Amy's favorite attire! The service will be followed by refreshments and time to share your favorite memories.
Date: February 17, 2013 Time: 1:00pm Memorial Service with refreshments to follow Location: Warren Conference Center & Inn (529 Chestnut Street in Ashland, MA)

Please join us.

The Butler & Reichheld Families