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Guest editorial: God has one of the best with him in heaven
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By Tom Murphy
Former Argus Publisher
Terry Mullins’ funeral was last week.
The long-time teacher and coach battled cancer for many years and he
fought it as only Terry would do. Even when his breathing
required assistance of oxygen, he was out walking carrying a portable
oxygen tank. That was Terry.
His teaching career was remarkable. His love of nature and environment
was passed on to his students through fishing trips he had for each of
his classes. His discipline is a legend because he administered
it uniformly.
He made a name for Caledonia and himself with his coaching of the
girls’ basketball team, although there are plenty of memories from the
early 70’s of varsity football players from his days as an assistant
varsity coach.
He was the first coach to take a Caledonia basketball team to the state
tournament, boys or girls. That achievement in 1992 has been
repeated several times since then.
His hallmarks were defense and discipline. He had certain rules
and, to my knowledge, he was unbending. His emphasis on defense is
still remembered. He was a dull interview because his answers were the
same, no matter what question you asked. He talked about hard work and
defense.
With some coaches, you ask a question and they give you a different
angle each week. With Terry, you could plan your questions and
the answers were invariably the same. Some times, he didn’t even
transition to his standard message. He just never answered the
question, instead repeating his mantra of hard work and discipline.
Equally remarkable about him is that he never said anything bad about
another team, their players, or their coach. He never complained about
the officiating. He would cut a reporter short when asked about an
officiating call, ‘no call has ever meant the difference in a game.’
Terry had a side away from coaching that I did not often see because of
my reporting role. To his players, he was fun to be with when
they were not playing basketball. They have lots of good memories
of Terry and Diane frequently hosting the team in their home.
There was another part to Terry’s passing that made me sad. For
as long as I remembered, Terry and Diane and their kids were
neighbors to my late mother-in-law, Caryl Ryan. His passing
reminded me of how much I miss her. Caryl knew the personal side of
Terry and the mention of his name always brought a chuckle from her.
I want to share with you part of the eulogy from his colleague, Laurel Rusert.
“Terry always wanted to be the best he could be. That applied not only
in his profession as a teacher but also in his role as husband, father,
grandfather, hunter, trapper, yes, even a golfer for a time.”
Laurel added, “He was an inspiration to all who knew him. He fought the
good fight. His life is to be celebrated today for all that he was and
all that he accomplished. Memories of Mr. Mullins will live
on. God has one of the best with him in heaven.”
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