In finding the right words to celebrate a life, Aristotle is never a bad place to begin:

"Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them," he wrote. "For these only gave them life, those the art of living well."

That was Pete Young. He taught the art of living well. Through education, belief in oneself, chasing of dreams.

Pete Young.

The Teacher.

The Pistol.

The once and future king of Stonington, CT.

It was with overwhelming sadness that we learned of Mr. Young's death over the weekend.

Pete Young belongs in a Rockwell painting. Backdrop? Rockwell's choosing. Could be at Stonington Point, teaching swimming. Or the golf course. Or the gym with a basketball. Or the classroom. This is the legacy. The Teacher. The Coach. And Pete would be wearing brown. The Brown Bear. The Stonington Bear. Now, forever.

Nowhere else does a better tribute exist than on the Facebook page of Jennifer Norcross, a teacher at Stonington High, on her way to becoming the de facto town historian:

"Stonington has lost one of its greats," she wrote. "Mr. Young was a teacher, coach, and friend to so many of us during his long career teaching social studies and coaching football, basketball, and golf.

"'Pistol' was the calming influence during all those basketball practices, but really showed us how much he cared every time he earned a technical foul! I'll also remember afternoons on the golf course, listening to him call the Thanksgiving Day football game on the radio when I had to leave early to get to my family's dinner, and because I am his daughter's friend, lots of laughs on William Street.

"His family has countless, wonderful memories, and because they made it possible for him to spend so much time with SHS's athletes for so many years, so do we. He may have been born a Northbridge Ram, but he'll always be known as a Stonington Bear. We'll miss you, Pistol!"

Bravo, Jennifer.

Here are more:

Maria Allen Sylvia: "He was a great man, even taught me how to swim in that really cold Stonington Point water … made us go in even when it was foggy and everyone had sweatshirts on. But it made us all better people. Thank you for all you did for us kids. God Bless."

Lori Ann Stoddart: "He would buy us bubble gum ice cream when the ice cream truck came to the point. A great man."

Frederic Allard: "Mr. Young was the only teacher at SHS that cared enough to tell me that I should major in history in college because he explained that I had a passion for the study of underlying causes. I took his class, Current World Affairs in 1984, and he opened my eyes to the study of geography. As an educator in a public school system now, I can still remember his strategies for teaching the most challenging learner, myself included. Thank you, Pete Young, for having a passion for teaching. You inspired me. RIP."

Duncan Norcross: "I never had Pistol as a teacher, but he was my golf coach for four years. We always had fun on our golf trips. He let us have fun and would even do some head banging to Metallica."

There are so many, many more. But maybe Stonington native Mike O'Farrell, the public relations director at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, said it best: "There's really only one Pistol Pete … and it's not Maravich."

Pete Young's iconic perch exceeds the parameters of Brown Town.

He inspired his daughter, Lori Young Skelton, to teach as well. Ms. Lori is my son's teacher at the Lillie B. Haynes' Integrated Preschool in East Lyme.

Let me just say this: Daniel loooooves Ms. Lori. Her patience, love and everything else she inherited from her dad have prompted major, positive changes in his life. (Although it's hard shutting him up now).

Ms. Lori can make the sun move across the heavens as far as my household is concerned. I hope I have the same influence on Daniel that Pete did for Lori.

Pete Young's life bore substance over glamour and pretense. He was the consummate dad, teacher, coach, Stonington Guy. We should all aspire to be the next Pete Young in our towns.

RIP, Pistol.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius