The benefit spaghetti dinner at Hopkins High School Tuesday afternoon and evening was set to go on as planned, but the man whom it was for died Sunday.

Randy Winchester, husband of high school social studies teacher Tara Winchester, died of cancer at Trillum Woods, Byron Center. He had been battling the disease for at least four years, as he underwent a medical procedure in Ann Arbor in January 2011.

Hopkins teacher Jason Babiak, a colleague of Tara’s, posted a tribute to him Monday. Babiak and his wife, Alison, have first-hand knowledge of a family health crisis as their son, Dawson, battles leukemia.

“Throughout the time I have briefly known Randy I know that he was a man full of life even when the deck was stacked against him,” Jason posted on the “Prayers for Dawson” Facebook page. “He faced adversity a number of times in his life and he never gave up.

“I work with Randy’s wife, Tara Winchester, and cannot fathom losing my spouse to cancer. Her strength through this dire time is Herculean. Throughout all of the obstacles that Randy has faced she has been by his side.

“The Winchester children are like any other teenage children of a close-knit loving and caring family. Their relationship throughout high school with their parents is admired by me and many others.”

Tara had posted that she and her children were aware the end was near last week, as he was sedated heavily in hospice care.

“In a recent message that I received from Tara, she referred to a time in which her prayers changed,” Jason Babiak said. “She no longer prayed for a miracle to cure Randy’s body, all she prayed for now was to take Randy’s pain away. God answered her prayers and brought Randy home.”

Randal graduated from Thornapple Kellogg High School in 1984 and Grand Valley State University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

PHOTO: Randy and Tara Winchester and their three teen-aged children.