A kind of grim record keeping comes with watching over the ever-expanding list of Remarkable Rochesterians that this column has been compiling since 2010.
Once in a while, I learn of a living Remarkable who has died. I then go into the database, make sure the capsule biography is in the past tense and add the year of the death.
Thus, sadly, I recently made changes for two men, Gary Beikirch and Tim Mains. They were close in age and longtime educators, mostly in the Greece Central School District. As significant as their careers in education were, they were better known for other parts of their lives, Beikirch as a war hero and Mains as a barrier breaker.
Gary Beikirch, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, who died Dec. 26 at age 74, was a school counselor in Greece for more than 30 years before retiring. He was also a founder of the Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester and an ordained Baptist minister.
The story of Beikirch’s extraordinary heroism in Vietnam during the war there has been told often. Serving as a medic in the Special Forces, he insisted on trying to save others even when he was almost fatally wounded himself.
‘He was a giant among giants’:Former Rochester City Councilman Tim Mains dies
More:Gary Beikirch, local Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 74
As is recounted in the 2020 book “Blaze of Light” by Marcus Brotherton, Beikirch struggled after coming home. But he eventually found faith and love and came to accept the power of the medal he had received. He could talk about his experiences with the students and veterans he counseled. Modestly, kindly, he saved lives.
Tim Mains, who died on Dec. 30 at age 73, joined the staff of the Greece school district in 1971, and went on to serve as a middle school teacher, and as a counselor.
He then was a principal in the Rochester City School District and later the superintendent of schools in Jamestown, Chautauqua County. At the time of his death, he was the superintendent in the Pine Brush school district north of New York City.
He became best known in this area when he ran for a seat on the Rochester City Council in 1985.
Winning by just 11 votes, he was the first openly gay member of the council and went on to serve for 20 years. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2005.
The slimness of Mains’ victory in his first race, an election in which other Democratic candidates won easily, indicated some public discomfort with, even opposition to, having a gay man on the council.
But Mains made clear he would not apologize for who he was. Thus, he opened the doors for other candidates in subsequent years.
Services for both Gary Beirkirch and Tim Mains are to be held on Jan. 8. Beikirch’s is at 10 a.m. at First Bible Baptist Church in Hilton. The gathering for Mains is at 11 a.m. at Asbury First United Church in Rochester.
Another Remarkable
Donna Jackel in The Rochester Beacon and Justin Murphy in the Democrat and Chronicle have written recently about Lucy Gwin who became an activist for disability rights while living in Rochester. Their stories were prompted by the recent publication of This Brain Had a Mouth; Lucy Gwin and the Voice of Disability Nation, by James M. Odato.
It’s clear that Gwin had an impactful life, so let’s add her name to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians.
Lucy Gwin (1943-2014): Her experience spending a traumatizing month in a Cortland rehabilitation facility while recovering from injuries suffered in a 1989 automobile accident in Rochester led Gwin to become a champion for people with disabilities. In 1990 in Rochester, she founded the magazine This Brain Has a Mouth (later shorten to Mouth), which was published for 18 years, giving a platform to people whose voice was not always heard. An advertising copy editor who had a variety of other jobs, she moved from Rochester in 1998, and was living in Pennsylvania at the time of her death.
From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454