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Mark Davis Blog: In Honor of Gavin
How I hate to write these words. St. Luke’s alum Gavin McIntire ‘08 passed away earlier this month. His family is still reeling from this blow and we at St. Luke’s have been reluctant to share our own grief publicly out of respect for the McIntires’ understandable need for time and privacy. Gavin is survived by his parents - Mary and John - and brothers Ross (SLS ’07) and Colin, a St. Luke’s junior. I thank Gavin’s family for giving me permission to express some of our sadness and memories of Gavin here.
My personal memories of Gavin are of a wonderful, breathtakingly handsome young man who seemed to be everywhere. Exceptionally bright and multi-talented, he was a superb student who brought the same passion and intensity to his work that he gave to acting, playing saxophone and clarinet, and playing squash, where he captained the team that won the School’s first national championship. His many friends in the extraordinary and close-knit Class of 2008 seemed to feed off that energy and everything he did.
Indeed, Gavin’s friends from St. Luke’s and Williams College (where he was a junior) looked to him for counsel and inspiration, including – or especially – when they most needed him. He listened well. And he cared. Those qualities are his most meaningful legacy to those who knew and loved him.
Gavin’s friends from Williams wrote a beautiful article about him in the school paper. In it they share similar thoughts about Gavin’s lovely spirit:
Gavin will be remembered for his dedication to his friends and his readiness to give a hug, for his infectious smile, his warm laugh and his wonderful sense of humor. He approached his work with a sharp mind and a tireless drive. Gavin was able to touch the lives of many, as he paired a great capacity for love with a genuine interest in the situations of those around him. His enthusiasm for all he did in life filled every room he entered.
When a life – especially one so young and full of promise and possibility – is extinguished, words usually fail. No words can bring Gavin back to us, and I know of none that can express fully our collective and individual feelings of loss and sadness. But as I have mourned Gavin and looked for ways for all of us to heal in the wake of his loss, I have looked to the great poets for help. In Adonais (1821), his elegy to John Keats (another romantic poet who died young), Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a single line that has helped me: “He has outsoared the shadow of our night….”
The St. Luke’s community will remember Gavin for the gift of his life and what he meant to us. I know the entire school community joins me in sending the McIntires our love and deepest sympathies. It was our honor to have Gavin as part of St. Luke’s. He will forever be in our hearts.
If anyone would like to share a thought or memory with the community, please feel free to use the comment option below.
The McIntire family requests that any memorial contributions be made to the Gavin McIntire ’08 Fund at St. Luke’s School or to Williams College in Gavin’s name.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
