It’s been a tough couple of days for the Pymatuning Valley High School community with the shocking news that popular principal Jeff Meddock had died sometime Friday night from a brain aneurysm.

Any death is a sad time, but when it happens to an active 38-year-old man, it’s shocking.

Meddock was a rarity in this day and age. While it seems most individuals are looking to leave Ashtabula County given the chance, Meddock, too, did exactly that in 2005 when he resigned as superintendent at PV to accept a principal’s position at Eastlake North.

He had spent six years in the PV district — two as an assistant principal at the high school, two as principal at the high school, one as assistant superintendent to Bill Lynch and then one as superintendent when Lynch retired in 2004.

Meddock then resigned his post at PV to head west to Eastlake.

However, Meddock then did something not many professionals do – he returned to Ashtabula County.

He once again took over as principal at PV, a position he held for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years and was in the early stages of his third school year in his second tenure in Laker Country before his untimely death Friday night

Simply put, he was the face of the district he loved.

Meddock, a Roaming Shores resident, once told me he enjoyed being a principal much more than being a superintendent for one reason — being principal allowed him to be more involved in the daily activities of his students than being a superintendent did.

Not that it was needed, but the fact he served as a volunteer assistant coach for Jeremy Huber’s great varsity boys basketball teams the last few years backed up his words. He didn’t have to volunteer his time... he wanted to, which was par for the course with Jeff Meddock — his time was everyone’s time.

What better compliment can an educator be paid?

I only had the occasion to see Meddock in person a few times during his tenure at PV, but when I did, he always seemed to be enjoying himself. When I saw him at a boys basketball scrimmage at Jefferson, he was quick to smile and shake my hand. When I told him he looked like he was having a blast, he didn’t hesitate to reply, “I am.”

While I didn’t know him well, someone I do know very well — Randy Ruebel — did, and Randy thought the world of Jeff.

In early September, late one night I had a replay of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. on the television here in the Star Beacon newsroom and, lo and behold, there Meddock was — on national television — several times, as the camera panned through the enthusiastic crowd.

Of course, I passed that info on to the news staffers here and on Monday, Sept. 8, Star Beacon photographer Warren Dillaway journeyed to PV High School and snapped Meddock’s photo to run with a story by Stacy Millberg.