EDITORIAL: Boyle was a good-natured hero

It’s difficult to say how many students and fellow educators Gene Boyle mentored in one way or another over his 45-year career, but one thing is certain: Mr. Boyle was a force for good to generations of students. He was driven to help young people become the best possible versions of themselves.

Boyle died Monday after suffering from dementia for six years, and our condolences go out to his family and friends.

As we searched the Inter Lake archives, it was no surprise we found lots and lots of information — and some pretty entertaining stories — about this iconic educator who spent the last 11 years of his career as principal of St. Matthew’s School in Kalispell.

When Boyle retired in 2009, Mary Fusaro shared the story of how Boyle had sought refuge in her kindergarten classroom after a rough encounter with a student that ended with the youngster bursting into tears. Boyle had been on the job at St. Matthew’s for two weeks — his first foray into elementary education after spending decades working with high-schoolers.

“What did I do wrong?” Boyle asked her. “I wasn’t even that upset with him.” Fusaro, who told him grade-schoolers are easily moved to tears, remembered how genuinely upset he had been when the child cried. After all, Boyle was well-known for his high-fives and hugs.

“That says what Gene is all about,” Fusaro told an Inter Lake reporter. “He would do everything and anything for a kid. He would exhaust himself.”

His work was exhaustive through the years as he went the distance in teaching, administering and coaching. During a 2000 Inter Lake interview Boyle shared that “my life was the high school” during his 21 years at Flathead High School. He worked with students; coached champions in football, basketball, track, baseball and softball; and organized nearly every kind of school event under the sun during his career.

“Most of my nights were 10 o’clock nights — a game, a play, a dance, a meeting,” he told the Inter Lake in that interview 16 years ago. “I attended at least one performance of every play and concert.

“There were times when I went home to dinner, and it was hard to leave the house,” he confided. “But once I was there, I enjoyed the activities.”

On his desk at St. Matthew’s Boyle kept a bluebird, a pretty piece of artwork and the perfect “Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder” to accompany his near-daily rendition of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” over the intercom.

When he retired, Boyle’s staff and students gushed about what an asset he was to St. Matthew’s. They marveled at his cheerful and positive attitude. “He’s all heart,” one of the St. Matthew’s sisters noted.

A kindergarten teacher perhaps summed it up best: “Every day was a ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah’ day with Gene Boyle, rain or shine.”

(See the full obituary for Mr. Boyle here.)