Pupils and teachers stood outside Fivemiletown College last Thursday as the funeral cortege of former Vice Principal Norman (Wallace) Lambert made its way past the school where he taught for 38 years.

The cortege, led by undertaker Marcus Madill, also made its way past Fivemiletown Methodist Church and the family home on the Clabby Road before stopping at Togherdoo Methodist Churchyard.

Mr. Lambert who died peacefully at home on May 19 following a short illness was buried on Saturday. He turned 79 last month.

“The guard of honour was very humbling and overwhelming. It is nice to know how well thought of my dad was in the community,” his daughter Alison Shore told The Impartial Reporter.

“He was my rock; he was always that role model who was there,” she said.

Indeed, Mr. Lambert was a role model for three generations of children having been a teacher of physics, and later vice principal. He first joined Fivemiletown High School as it was known then back in 1963.

“He would have been a very quiet man who just did his job. I remember him saying that he always tried to do the right thing by the children and that is what he focused on

“He taught us as well so we had gone through the school too. I remember him saying to me in first form when I got my first physics homework and asked for help he said ‘you were in the class along with everyone else!' I got six out of 10,” laughed Mrs. Shore, who is now a teacher herself.

She describes her father as someone who “could have fixed anything that was broken” and said she and her family were left “bemused” at the amount of things that needed repaired during his illness.

“We were saying to him ‘it’s a good job you taught us how to fix a plug dad’, or ‘it’s a good job you showed us how to fix a dripping tap.”

Family time with his wife and children was very important to Mr. Lambert.

“Dad would have finished school at the start of the July holidays, then on July 12 we’d be off in the caravan travelling somewhere in the UK or Ireland and seeing lots of places and visiting lots of places.

“We always had to be back for exams results day but he made sure to take time out for us so we could have quality family time as well,” she said.

Mr. Lambert retired from the school in 2001 but “kept his hand in”, attending special events, speech days, concerts and school plays.

“He was still very much a part of the school,” said Mrs. Shore. He was also "fully involved" in Fivemiletown Methodist Church.

Last year Mr. Lambert and his wife Jean celebrated 50 years of marriage.

“I don’t know how they lasted that long with us about,” smiled Mrs. Shore, referring to herself and her two siblings, Jonathan and Sharon.

“Dad found out he was ill at the start of March. It was a quick journey for him, I suppose. No matter who visited the house, carers or nurses, he would tell them, ‘I am doing the best’. He never grumbled. He finished school after 38 years and had two days off sick. He always told people he was ‘doing grand’ and he was still doing that up until a couple of weeks ago,” she said.

While Mr. Lambert is remembered by scores of children and the very many members of staff he worked alongside he will be remembered by his family as simply a loving husband and father and grandfather to Sharon’s children, Eve and Erin.

“He was a good father and grandfather; he doted on the girls.

“He always seemed to make the right choices in life. People would ask him his opinion; I would phone him up if I was stuck and ask ‘what do I do?’ He would never tell you what to do, he would get you to think what the right thing was to do. He would encourage you,” said Mrs. Shore.

As all good teachers and role models do.