Letter to the Editor: Let’s name our next school after Hank Manz

As COVID fades, I am reminded that we have not been able to mourn Hank Manz who died in 2020. Hank served Lexington as a coach, and omnipresent public servant for decades (Town Meeting, Select Person, etc.).  He was a consummate diplomat, a gentle man able to lower the temperature of disputes.  In Lexington, dozens of visible improvements, public works and others, needed Hank to get them over the finish line.  As Scoutmaster at Troop 160, he helped raise generations of Boy Scouts, acting as a surrogate parent during teenage years when parenting can be harder.  The next time we build or renovate a school, let’s name it the “Hank Manz” school.  Yes we want to revere forefathers of the 1700s like Harrington, Estabrook, Fiske, and Hastings.  But it may be better to encourage generations of new leaders to serve like Hank Manz.