Few educators are able to touch the lives of so many, far beyond their elementary years, as Fred Zamarripa, the late principal of Lincoln Elementary School in Delta. As a student who had Mr. Zamarripa as a principal, I cannot refrain from referring to him as Mr. Z, as this is the name he was known by to students, faculty members, and the community. Mr. Z spent much of his 27-year career as principal of Lincoln Elementary and was as iconic as the school itself.
As a matter of fact, it is Mr. Z I think of first when I gaze back into the memory of my third and fourth grade years. It is worth noting that my mother taught under the leadership of Mr. Z for his tenure at Lincoln and I got to know him better than the mere yeoman student. He always had a smile and came out of his office to say hello when I wandered through the front doors. Once, as a young adult, I wandered in with my baseball cap on and he casually reminded me to be a good example and to remove my cap. Mr. Z had a way about him which was very likeable and hard to express in words, yet the way he connected with kids, including my brother and I, was amazing. He could casually and simply explain complex questions, resolve fights on the playground with ease, and the same man could also laugh and have fun teasing students in a jesting way.
It is a great honor for me to be able to write a letter of support for having one of the playgrounds at Lincoln Elementary School to be renamed the Mr. Z Playground in recognition of the man who embodied the same morals and character as the president for whom the school was named. The naming of a playground would be a tremendous tribute to the principal who dedicated his life to the education of America’s future. Mr. Z could have made an incredible fortune on Wall Street or in Denver, but decided to reside in Delta County and use his skills and talents to better serve the community, rather than himself. I remember Mr. Z would always tell the students, during every assembly, “Nothing is impossible if you try.” He honestly embraced this adage and encouraged his teachers and students to follow that motto as well. To this day I can still see his black hair and moustache and his smile lines going out from his big warm and welcoming smile. It is this smile which will always be in my memory as I think of Lincoln Elementary. For these reasons, I wholeheartedly encourage the school board and superintendent of School District 50J to dedicate the playground at Lincoln Elementary School in memory of the late Mr. Z, who dedicated his life to the education of Delta’s youth.
