SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

IN MEMORIAM

A bit of sadness that we knew was coming for a while has happened. Brian's principal at school, Sandra Frost, succumbed to cancer this week.
I took this photo of her and Brian last year during an awards ceremony. She kind of scared me when Brian started going to Cimino Elementary, before I got to talk with her and know her a little bit. I soon found her to be a lovely woman who had an obvious passion for teaching children. She was stern and strict, but fair and warm. When I asked her to pose with Brian, she immediately beamed and said, "Absolutely.''
When she was chosen to start Cimino two years ago, she got to hand-pick her teachers, who soon worked to create one of the elite public schools in the county.
In the last year, she could be seen at the school wearing a hat to hide her loss of hair during chemotherapy. She handled even that indignity with grace. She informed the children and their parents at the onset of her therapy that she would probably be losing her hair and that if they had any questions, they could ask her.
When Brian was told of her death on Sunday, he was sad, but not overwhelmed. One of the reasons I think he was so solid was due in part to the way Mrs. Frost taught the children how to handle her - and any - severe illness.
I have no doubt that she's taught them lessons in her death that they will carry throughout their lives.

A postscript: A guestbook for comments is available online.

Posted by Jeff at October 5, 2004 08:21 AM | TrackBack