This spring, I received an email from Roger Lynch of Ashfield. He wrote to tell me about a poetry award he and his wife, Lindsey Fletcher-Lynch, had founded to honor their son, Ian Fletcher Lynch, who died last year at the age of 27 of cardiac arrest. Fletcher Lynch was a graduate of Mohawk Trail Regional High School and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While he lived in the area, he worked for five years as a river rafting guide with Crab Apple Whitewater in Charlemont. He later moved to Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he continued as a river guide for five more years on the Snake River.
In an article by Erika Dahlby published in the Jackson Hole Daily on June 28, 2016, Fletcher Lynch’s employer Bud Chatham said, “Ian was kindness incarnate. He could make the surliest Harley rider smile and the most terrified kid ride the bull, whooping and hollering with joy. He could get an 80-year-old grandpa to jump in the river and the grandma to take up a paddle.
“Ian understood the river brings out laughter, thrills, and he created lifelong memories for people day after day.”
Their son also loved to read and write poetry, Lynch told me, so he and his wife decided to award a $500 Ian Fletcher Lynch Spirit of the River Scholarship annually to a Mohawk senior who writes a poem that best captures Fletcher Lynch’s spirit and love of rivers.
The family asked English teachers at Mohawk to solicit poems from seniors in their classes and choose three finalists. Fletcher Lynch’s family then chose this year’s winner: Rebecca Scranton of Colrain.
Scranton’s poem, “Grandpa Doc’s Waterfall,” tells the story of sliding down a waterfall to meet up with her family at the bottom. Her enthusiasm for the activity shows in her eyes as she talks.
“It’s a little dangerous,” she says.
Scranton says that she hadn’t originally planned to enter the contest, thinking that her poetry wouldn’t be good enough to win. She also couldn’t think, at first, of anything related to rivers to write about. It was her mom who reminded her of the family’s annual excursions to a waterfall on property that her great-grandfather used to own, and she encouraged her to write a poem about it.
Her mother was one of nine brothers and sisters, Scranton says, and every summer the whole family would make a trip to the waterfall together.
The excursions were as much about being together as they were about the destination, though of course the daredevil fun of sliding down a waterfall had its own appeal. The tradition continued into the next generation, even after her great-grandfather sold the property.
Scranton says the current owner doesn’t allow just anybody access to the waterfall, partly because of safety concerns, but knowing how much it means to them, he allows Scranton’s family members to come every year.
Scranton, who excels at math, says that writing poetry is new for her. The spark for writing it came from her Advanced Placement English Literature teacher, William Drake, who had his students write in journals every morning.
“Sometimes he would tell us what to write about, sometimes it was just a free-write,” Scranton says. Drake would then encourage students to mine the journals for material for other writing, including poems.
Scranton will be attending Emmanuel College in Boston in the fall to study math and secondary education. Now that she’s had some encouragement, she may continue to write poetry as a compliment to the math. To have the Fletcher Lynch family think her poem was worthy of the award was “a definite boost,” Scranton says.
Ian Fletcher Lynch
Spirit of the River Fund
The Fletcher Lynch family is accepting donations to keep the Ian Fletcher Lynch Spirit of the River Fund going at: www.gofundme.com/ifl-spirit-of-the-river-scholorship.
In addition to the poetry award at Mohawk, the fund awards $1,000 annually to Dave Hansen White Water in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and to Crab Apple Whitewater in Charlemont for programs supporting experiential education on the river.
Trish Crapo is a writer and photographer who lives in Leyden. She is always looking for poets,
writers and artists to interview for her columns. She can be reached at tcrapo@mac.com