Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2015)
4 CLACKAMAS PRINT-APRIL 15,2015 Remembering Rizzo by Katie Archer & Lily Shaver He left a legacy that will be near Im possible to duplicate and his friendship will never be replaced. On Saturday, March 21, Clackamas Community College lost manufacturing instructor Chris Rizzo in a motorcycle accident. Those w ho knew him know they’ve lost a friend, a great teacher and so much more. “Chris loved to tell a good story,” said English instructor Amanda Coffey. “He was a great speaker, he told jokes, he made everybody laugh cause he was such a great guy. Comfortable with him self, made everybody relax." Coffey m et Rizzo w hile w orking on the faculty senate, which represents and supports the fac ulty at CCC. She had known him for about a year. “ He was th e kind o f guy w ho m ade you feel like you’d known him fo r a really long tim e ,” said Coffey. When she left the campus late at night, Rizzo would walk her to her car. Michelle Meyer, administrative coor dinator, said, “He would look at you like you were the only person in the room,” when describing w hat it is was like to talk w ith Rizzo. “He brought a lot of energy and made me excited to be there,” said Buck Rich a former student turned teacher’s assistant and lab instructor at CCC. While he was a student, Rich liked to be the center of attention and would sit in the back row. “Chris d id n ’t like having to walk all around the desks and so he would jum p over the other computers and desks be cause it was quicker to get to the back row where I was at,” said Rich. “And that was his little Rizzo Route that he would take. So that was in the first week, and I knew right away, like, ‘cool this guy is willing to jum p over desks for people,’ you know?” Fellow instructors Bob DelGatto and Wes Locke described Rizzo as an inno vator, someone who had to be on the cutting edge of everything and liked to push the envelope. “If he were to read a sale brochure that he thought probably wouldn’t work, he would want to try it and see if the tool breaks,” said Locke. Although Rizzo was competitive and accomplished many things, he didn’t have an ego. “I mean it was really amazing,” said DelGatto. “That was one of the things about Chris, and we kind of discovered this with his folks. His folks didn’t really know a lot o f w hat Chris had accom plished because Chris doesn’t brag. He doesn’t talk about himself.” “I feel sad for students who won’t have the chance to have a class with him,” said DelGatto. He remembered a student who spoke at the memorial service w ho talked about Rizzo’s com petitive jj nature on the ? race track, b u t w hen jHH he cam e iH H in to th e classroom, he left the c o m p e t itiv e n e s s at th e door. Rizzo was concerned with the success of students and didn’t w ant to be the reason his students w eren’t successful. Craig Anderson, manufac turing and pre-engineering in structor, said, “He was dedicat ed to teaching, he would even be here [CCC] on weekends.” David Ward, solid m odeling CDT 108a instructor, said, “Chris had a lot of students who really, really loved him.” “Everybody really looked for ward to taking his classes, they would be like ‘I’m in Chris Rizzo’s class, alright!’ You know, they were really excited about it.” CCC student Matt Eastman Said, “He was a real great guy and he was a CNC wizard...He seemed kinda scatter-brained when I first met him, but when he started to talk about some- ' V 1 thing it was like reading a dictio nary. All kinds of information just spilled out." Rizzo advanced the program and pro vided opportunities for students. Looking “ People that knew Chris are going to miss him.” -Craig Anderson Manufacturing instructor Chris Rizzo demonstrates using equipment in the Barlow building. ahead, those in the manufacturing de partment know that Rizzo’s talent, per sonality and genuine care for students can never be replaced. “People that knew Chris are going to miss him,” said Anderson. A memorial scholarship is being set up in memory of Rizzo. Donations can be made at https://give.clackamas.edu/ ChristopherRizzo#.VSsGOZTF97x.
