By Thia James

Well-known Melfort teacher dies in accident

Nov 6, 2014 | 8:31 AM

A respected teacher and active member of the Melfort community died in an accident earlier this week.

Darrel Zary, 53, was involved in a single-vehicle accident on Monday morning.  Zary, who was involved in local hockey, will be honoured by Melfort Minor Hockey at the Montreal Canadiens alumni hockey game on Nov. 16 at Northern Lights Palace. There will be a moment of silence at the game.

Zary was a teacher at Reynolds Central School and a councillor for the North East Teachers’ Association. The association’s president, David Rogers, described Zary’s passing as a blow to the school community and to the Melfort community itself.

“Those things that he gives back to our community, to our school communities, they’re sorely missed and he was a great member of our profession.”

As a teacher, Rogers said Zary was active with the students in his school. “[He] puts his kids first, was always prepared and ready to go and he went the extra mile for them and for the school communities that he belonged to.”

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Rogers worked closely with Zary as a councillor for the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and as a member of the North East Teachers’ Association. Zary was also a member of the Melfort Tiger-lily Teachers’ Association.

“I always appreciated the candour that Darrel brought to the meetings, his ability to put things in a fresh perspective that maybe we hadn’t seen before. And, you know, we really saw that time and again … and his willingness to come forward and be involved in large-scale projects.”

He described Zary as passionate about what he did, who he was and what he wanted to achieve for himself and for others.

And Zary is well-remembered among his former students. Brittany Durell, now 27, was a student of his 15 years ago at Broadway School, which has been closed. On Monday, her mother sent her a text about the fatal car accident.

Durell said it was heartbreaking to find out, because Zary left behind his wife and son, Kalem. But she does have fond memories of her Grade 6 teacher.

Zary called her “the smiley kid.”

“When we had a Grade 6 graduation, he had wrote me a poem about smiles. I’m never going to forget that part,” Durell said.

She described him as helpful, and a nice guy who knew everyone by their first names.

“He’s gone too soon,” Durell said.

Zary’s death led to an outpouring of grief online, much of it on Twitter. At Reynolds Central School, counsellors were available to talk to grieving students on Tuesday who weren’t present at the school on Monday.

Zary’s death also leaves a hole in the Melfort hockey community. He was also very involved in Melfort Minor Hockey and in his 17-year-old son’s teams. Kalem currently plays for the Tisdale Trojans.

In the local hockey world, Zary was “Mr. Hockey.”

General manager of Melfort Minor Hockey, Donna Dressler, said Zary was involved since the day his son started playing hockey. He has held different positions, usually as a manager. Dressler said he was involved in every aspect of the game, from the score clock to the penalty box to organizing road trips.

And to Dressler, Zary was probably the most organized person that she knew.

“I could call on him, our association could call on him. He was always on it. Got it done. Not a blink of an eye.”

For young players, he was a role model, Dressler said, and described Zary’s passing as a huge loss for Melfort Minor Hockey and the hockey world.

“It’s a huge loss for our entire community.”

The RCMP continues to investigate the accident. They are unsure how his car landed in a slough about three kilometres west of Melfort. Staff Sgt. Darren Wouters with the Melfort detachment said the car wasn’t submerged and was in about a foot to 14 inches of water.

According to RCMP, a cause of death has not yet been determined and it could be some time before they do know – that is still under investigation by the provincial coroner’s office.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames