Scholarship to honor teacher slain in Las Vegas
The family of a special needs teacher, one of 58 people killed by a Las Vegas gunman, is asking that she be remembered with donations to a scholarship for kids.
“The family is extremely comforted by the outpouring of love and kindness of our extended family, friends, Sandy’s co-workers, members of the community, and the country, many of whom we’ve never met,” Sandra Lee Casey’s obituary reads.
Casey’s family requests gifts in her memory be made to the Sandra Lee Casey Scholarship Fund for Sandy’s Kids at Venmo account @Tracy-Carey-2.
Casey, who was 35, will be remembered at a funeral service Oct. 17 at the United Church in her hometown of Dorset, Vt.
Casey was living in Redondo Beach, Calif., and teaching in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District at the time of her Oct. 1 death.
“We lost a spectacular teacher who devoted her life to helping some of our most needy students,” Superintendent Michael Matthews said in a statement last week addressing the tragedy. Casey had worked for the school district for nine years.
She was engaged to marry co-worker Christopher Willemse, who fled the massacre with his fiancee in his arms in an attempt to save her life.
“She made everybody smile,” Willemse told The Washington Post. “She was an excellent teacher and loved the kids she taught.”
Visiting hours will be held from 4-7 p.m. Saturday in the cafeteria of Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vt. Casey was a 2004 graduate of the school before earning her master’s degree in education from Assumption College in Worcester.