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Watercolor donated in memory of special friends
The 30 x 37 inch, double matted and framed painting was to be donated to the West Islip Schools Administration Building to hang in a prominent place in the lobby. A generous and most appropriate gesture since Michael and Christine Freyer were teachers who met while working in the schools. The happy couple quickly became everyone's favorite as Mike, who began his career in the Captree Elementary School, became assistant principal at the high school, and later principal of the Paul J. Bellew Elementary School. It was while he was assigned to the high school that he met Christine, a social studies teacher and administrative intern to then-Assistant Principal Michelle D'Amour. Sometime later, after the courtship and wedding, Michael was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He fought the illness hard, always returning to work as soon as humanly possible. In fact, he scheduled his radiation treatments and chemotherapy around long holiday weekends and vacation days so he wouldn't miss much time at work. He endured several operations, returning to his office 10 days later. Newspaper columnist Ed Lowe wrote about the Freyers' ordeal in 1995, adding that after Michael's long battles and skirmishes with lung cancer, malignant melanoma and brain cancer, Christine developed painful stomach problems that were originally attributed to stress and diagnosed as irritable-bowel syndrome. Then she was diagnosed as having colon cancer in the advanced stage. ` Their friends and colleagues in the school district rotated teams to assist them, taking them alternately to Sloan-Kettering and to Mount Sinai for treatments. But eventually, Michael had to be placed in hospice care in the Bronx and Christine, who was taken to Sloan that morning, said she hadn't said good-bye to Michael, adding, " I don't know if I'll ever see him again." She didn't. At the age of 45, Michael died on April 28, 1995, and Christine, at 48, died on May 3rd, in the hospital during the funeral mass held for Michael. Ed Lowe wrote that their West Islip school family held a dedication ceremony, unveiling a sign naming the Michael and Christine Freyer Administration Building, in addition to a scholarship fund already established, in the couple's memory.
This June, as Michelle presented the Whitehead watercolor to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Beth Virginia Blau, she said, "I want this painting to bring back our remembrances of Christine and Michael. They were very special people and wonderful friends to all of us."
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