Manhasset parents may not immediately realize that the passing of Admiral Paul J. Early on Oct. 24 is a notable loss for their school-aged children. Labeled by some as "one of those No voters" for the annual spring school district budget, Adm. Early may have been viewed as an obstacle, not an advocate, to funding the highest level of educational excellence for their children. Adm. Early was their advocate. He worked hard to identify cost savings in order to support programs where students would realize the greatest benefit.

I was privileged to know Adm. Early for almost 15 years; we were both members of the Community Reformed Church. During that time we served on several committees together. At one point I was church treasurer and Adm. Early was chair of the Administrative Team, aka the "A Team," with responsibilities for the management of our buildings and grounds. Adm. Early was genius at finding cost effective ways to solve problems for the benefit of those using our facilities. The North Shore Nursery School was one beneficiary from Adm. Early's amazing attention to detail. A favorite story is how the building inspectors and fire marshals were awed by his mastery of their codes during the inspection of the Education Building.

During board of education meetings, especially during budget season or special budget sessions, Adm. Early was a constant presence. He dedicated countless hours of his time to understand the district's educational and financial challenges as well as the nuances of numerous state and federal mandates.

For the school district administration Adm. Early's stream of FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) requests certainly added untold hours to their workloads. As an engineer on the USS Nautilus, America's first nuclear attack submarine, he was, to put it lightly, a stickler for detailed information. These seemingly endless information requests were made, however, in the spirit of discovering a nugget of information that may lead the school district to smarter decision making.

In order to provide an informed point of view during the 2007 Bond Referendum, Adm. Early doubled his efforts to understand the needs of each school building, leveraging his relevant and extensive experience in construction and facilities management from his successful career with the New York Power Authority.

Adm. Early and I had many opportunities to discuss education in general as well as specific Manhasset School District issues. His keen intellect and unfailing knowledge of deep and complex issues was always beneficial to me. Sometimes regarding a specific issue we'd reach that point of agreeing to disagree, but we always agreed that at the heart of every decision was the need to provide Manhasset students with an excellent education.

Adm. Early was a warm, caring and generous man, quick with a smile, always a twinkle in his eye. His 33 years serving in the U.S. Navy are proof of his heroism and devotion to his country. A Manhasset resident for over 60 years, Adm. Early was devoted to making this community one of the finest in America, including providing its children with an unrivaled public education.

My family moved from Manhasset last year. An American Hero to me, Adm. Early is one of the people I miss seeing on a regular basis. I believe Manhasset parents will miss Adm. Early too, more than they may realize at the moment.

Jayne Evans Brescia