Community honors life of SCA senior John Lynch
More than 100 USC students, faculty and staff gathered for a mass at Our Savior Parish Tuesday evening to honor the life of John Lynch.
Lynch, a senior majoring in screenwriting in the School of Cinematic Arts, died Friday.
The service opened with several hymns and prayers from members of the community. Nick Solari, president of the student executive board at the Catholic Center, welcomed all attendees to the parish and told students that the center was a safe place.
“In times like these, I think it’s sometimes hard to find the right words. A lot of us remember getting here just a few weeks ago,” Solari said. “Each and every one of you, no matter how you’re processing this loss, no matter where you are, what stage of life or what kind of tradition you come from. You are welcome here.”
Solari also asked attendees to make a promise of love saying that Lynch would have wanted them to do that. He said he wanted students to honor Lynch by continuing with their work.
The prayer ceremony was followed by words from Varun Soni, dean of the Office of Religious Life. During his speech, Soni said Lynch’s family wanted him to convey how grateful they were for everyone’s love and friendship.
Soni also thanked SCA Dean Elizabeth Daley, who was in attendance. He then asked the community to observe a minute of silence.
Soni talked about Lynch, who came to him with a few of his friends to talk about “life’s big questions.” Soni said Lynch was very communicative about his love for his friends and family.
“I was amazed at how he was communicating his love to his friends, in a way that very few young men are capable of doing,” Soni said. “He was his usual honest self, but this time, he talked at length about how much his friends meant and how much he loved them.”
Soni said Lynch had a big reputation around campus and was known as someone who made everyone smile. He called Lynch a contemporary version of his hero Jay Gatsby and said that while he expected him to be like a “superhero” the first time he met him, he soon realized he was much more.
“John Lynch was our flame, our light, our star, who burned so brightly while he was with us, we needed sunglasses just to be around him,” Soni said. “In an age of copycats and imitators, John was truly an American original.”
Soni mentioned Lynch’s work as an administrator of the meme page and said he was more honest than any other student he had met in his two decades of teaching. It was Lynch’s honesty, he said, that allowed him to turn his pain into everyone else’s joy.
“Especially in an age when so many of us wear so many masks, both online and off,” Soni said. “John was also honest about his pain, which he turned into joy for others. That’s why he did the meme site. That’s why he did stand up comedy to bring joy to others.”
Soni read from a Daily Trojan profile on Lynch, saying that the last paragraph captured the mood Lynch had been in the last time they met.
“I’ve had a great life overall. I would never change anything that’s happened to me. I’m very grateful. I have so many great people who love me. I love USC. I love the world. I have so much love for everything,” Lynch told the Daily Trojan in November 2018.
Soni then asked the community to be there for each other and remember that they are a family who supported everybody.
“Please know that over the weeks and months and years ahead, you will have each other,” he said. “You are a family. You care deeply for each other. You advocate for each other, you support each other. You tell stories together, you love each other.”
Soni then invited everyone in attendance to gather in the courtyard and fill out the memorial books with their prayers, stories and wishes for the family.
The SCA community also gathered on Monday to share stories and memories of Lynch followed by a reception in his honor held by the school’s John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television division.
“Last time I saw John he gave me a hug and he thanked me,” Soni said. “After he left, I realized that he had it backward. That I should have thanked him instead. For his bravery, for his humor, for his honesty, for his pain and for his love and for courageously modeling all his strengths and vulnerabilities at a time when we need that example most in the world.”
Students dealing with mental health concerns can walk into USC Student Health centers or contact the 24/7 phone line (213) 740-9355 for professional assistance. Faculty and staff members can reach out to the Center for Work and Family Life at (213) 821-0800. Students, faculty and staff members concerned about a fellow Trojan can notify Trojans Care 4 Trojans online or by calling (213) 821-4710.