Family, friends, students and colleagues gathered in St. Alban's Chapel on the 'Iolani campus Sunday to celebrate the life and gifts of Alan M. Linsky who died after a long battle with cancer on July 10.
Services were led by 'Iolani Chaplain Diane Martinson-Koyama who offered the following homily:
Most of you here knew Al far better than I.
I first became aware of Al by noticing his by-line on so many of the sports articles on the ‘Iolani website. I enjoyed reading those articles with the accompanying photos. While I made it to some of the sporting events, these articles rounded out my awareness of what was happening in the lives of my students and within the life of this community.
I wondered who this Al Linsky was, and then I came to realize that he was the photographer I’d see at all these games.
How was it that he could take all those photos--photos caught at such great moments that they can only be described as “poetry in motion”--and still manage to remember all those details regarding the game and the players so as to later write them down for all of us to read?
So I e-mailed him, told him that, and thanked him. That began our e-mail communication.
When his cancer returned, and he was once again under treatment, our e-mail communication changed to, “How’s it going? How are you doing?”
Al was always direct and straight with the facts, but he never dwelt on his disease. In fact, even when the chemo was in his own words “brutal,” his voice still managed to become animated and passionate when he spoke about sports--high school sports, public and private, UH sports--he knew it all and multiple sports at that, but clearly he loved ‘Iolani. Maybe it was the undersized athletes that continually rose to the top. Maybe it was his respect for the discipline, training, conditioning, and “smarts” that made this possible. I don’t know, but not even the chemo could take away that passion.
Nor could the chemo take away his passion for his “girls”--Miranda, who had the “eye,” in whom he saw his gift of photography unfolding and Amelia who had his gift for writing and then quite a bit more.
This was a man who lived in hope--an indomitable hope that kept him going year after year, grueling treatment after grueling treatment. While he said he welcomed my personal prayers and those of us who gathered for Wednesday morning eucharist, we didn’t speak about faith; rather, Al lived that which grounds both the Jewish and Christian traditions--an unshakeable hope that has allowed the human spirit to survive untold numbers of tragedies throughout history a hope grounded in the conviction
- that life is worth living,
- that the joys of life are greater than the sorrows,
- that God’s will for humanity is goodness and
- that God will have the final word.
That assurance of the eternity of God’s covenant, of the certainty of God’s mercy beyond judgment moved the prophet Isaiah to proclaim to a people stunned by the destruction of Jerusalem, of the very Temple that had been the central place and focus of their faith, to a people reeling with the fear that God had indeed finally forsaken them, to these people the prophet Isaiah proclaimed some of the most comforting words in scripture, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15-16a)
The very survival of the Jewish people has been grounded in this hope. In defiance of destruction and sorrow, the prophet boldly announced, “For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 55:12-13)
In the face of things that cannot be understood, this is a people and a faith grounded in an indomitable spirit of hope, and that is the hope I experienced in Al.
The Christian tradition also shares in this hope, a hope that defies the sorrows of this world. The book of Hebrews proclaims that hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul (6:12).” “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who has promised is faithful.” (10:23) This hope in which the Jewish and Christian faiths are grounded is not a pollyannaish hope. It is a hope that speaks
- from the depths of sorrow,
- from the reality of pain,
- from the challenge of struggle.
It is hope in a Greatness that defies the limits of life as we perceive it. “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Rom. 8:24b-25) It is heard in the still, small voice and in the rushing of the wind. It is a hope that is defiantly victorious even over death and that gives those of us who are left on this earthly pilgrimage the means and will to go on.
Today we give thanks for Al. We honor his life and pray for his eternal peace. For us, let us pray that we may continue to live in the tenacity and conviction of that eternal hope. AMEN.
In an earlier web site posting, 'Iolani Communications Director, Cathy Chong noted:
His lens captured the engaging side of student life, whether at the intermediate or varsity level, whether the subjects were young kindergartners or seniors bound for college. His photographs and photo collages adorn the walls of people's homes. A web master and technology expert, Coach Al was also a contributor to the 'Iolani end-of-year athletic slide show, the 'Iolani School Bulletin magazine, the 'Iolani calendar and the school web page.
For www.iolani.org, he wrote about sporting events with insight and detail that mainstream media often left out. Coach Al was one of the school's biggest supporters and fans. In turn, he cultivated a legion of fans himself.
The service program offered this biography:
Al grew up in Natick, Massachusettsand graduated from Natick High School (“The Home of Champions”) in 1969. He was a champion tennis player and was recognized as a Scholar-Athlete. He was the keyboardist in the '60s group The Missing Links.
He attended Colby Collegein Waterville, Maineand graduated in 1973 with a BA in Economics. He was accepted into the management training program at a Boston-area bank, but after his stint in the repossession department, he decided to enroll in the MBA program at Babson Collegein Wellesley, Massachusetts, earning his MBA in 1976.
Al began as a BASIC programmer at Computer Information Systems in Braintree, Massachusetts, writing software for a chain of retail women's clothing stores, and rose to the position of Chief Operating Officer in the mid-'80s as he helped guide the company's growth .
He and Debbie Ikehara (Mid-Pac '70) were married in 1982, having been together since they met at Colby. They shared an active lifestyle, hiking, canoeing, fishing, bicycling, and cross-country skiing, and even trained and competed together in several triathlons (short ones). They also traveled to the Caribbean, the West Coast, and, of course, Hawaii.
With a change in the management approach at CIS, and Debbie feeling the cold more and more each winter, Al and Debbie decided to make the big move and relocated to Hawaii in 1989, settling in Kaneohe. Al owned and operated an ATM network servicing the Outrigger Reef Hotel, Sea Life Park, and Waimea Falls Park. When the leases were not renewed, he started Windward Websites to provide website design and maintenance services to a wide variety of clients.
Al's daughters were the light of his life. Amelia ('Iolani '09) was born in 1991, and Miranda ('Iolani '10) was born in 1992. He attended and photographed all of their activities, and his business Coach-Photos.Com grew out of his increasing interest in photography. He started as a novice and continued to expand his creative and technical expertise to produce outstanding sports photos. He continued his website development work and especially enjoyed writing his sports blogs.
Al fought recurring bouts of cancer for many years, and his strength remains an inspiration to his family, friends, and colleagues. He leaves his wife Deborah Ikehara, daughters Amelia and Miranda Linsky, mother Ruth, brother and sister-in-law James and Joan, brother David, and sisters-in-law Rebecca and Marti Ikehara
