Last Saturday’s dedication of the Robert S. Dubik baseball field at the Sean M. Googin Sports Complex on Fenner Road was a wonderful event filled with laughter and tears, punctuated by alternating periods of sun and rain. More than 100 people turned out to be part of the event, and that alone says a lot about our former school superintendent Bob Dubik, who he was and how many lives he touched in our community.

When he passed away in 2014 only a few months after his retirement, the entire community was shocked and saddened. As former school board president Pat Vogl has said in the past, and repeated last Saturday when he spoke at the dedication event, naming the varsity baseball field in honor of Dubik — who loved baseball as much as he loved the school district and all of its students — was a perfect and fitting way to honor a great man. And we wholeheartedly agree.

It was especially moving Saturday that so many members of Bob’s family were present for the dedication, including his wife, sons, siblings and father. Bob’s brother Jim got choked up as he offered a few words of thanks — which we think gave everyone in the crowd a catch in the throat — and Terri Dubik, Bob’s widow, gave everyone a heartfelt smile when she said the sun and rain that alternated that afternoon during the event just showed that Bob was looking down on the ceremony. “I know he’s smiling but crying too,” Terri said.

It was an emotional afternoon, with the great memories of Bob coming to everyone’s minds, the honor of the field dedication bringing pride and joy to those who know how much he would have appreciated the act, but also a great sadness pervading the event because Bob was not there. It was a meaningful and touching moment, and we applaud the school board and the school administration for honoring Bob Dubik in such a fitting and wonderful way. May his spirit forever watch over the field and the athletes who play upon it.