The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SCHOOL HONORS 2 CHILDREN WHO DIED
Students remembered with mural, bench at Stevan Dohanos Elementary School
Family members and teachers unveiled a memorial mural and bench honoring two children who died in separate tragedies this school year.
The mural shows 9-yearold Nadeysha Rodriguez and 10-year-old Josue Massas swinging and facing a sunset.
Nadeysha wears angel wings and Josue sports a superhero cape.
After a short ceremony May 24 attended by about 60 people at Stevan Dohanos Elementary at 1625 E. 32nd St. in Lorain, children sat on the bench for photographs with their friends, and stroked the pictures of Josue and Nadeysha on the arms.
“She was my best friend,” said fourth-grade student Desteny Malpica, also 9, “and I miss her so much, and I love her. She was a nice girl.”
Nadeysha died Dec. 23 of apparent smoke inhalation in a mobile home fire on the 3900 block of Reid Avenue in Lorain.
Josue died of neuroblastoma on Feb. 15.
Painted by first-year art
“Their memory is going to live on. They won’t be forgotten.”
— Arts teacher Louis Cunningham
teacher Louis Cunningham of Lorain City Schools, the mural in a main hallway at Stevan Dohanos ensures the students will never be forgotten.
“Every day when we walk by we will have our angel and our superhero close by,” Stevan Dohanos Elementary Principal Sean Wolanin said. “They helped us know what family is all about.”
Cunningham’s wife, Aftan, and Kimberley Milks are Nadeysha’s fourthgrade teachers.
“We’ve been working on the mural for about 1 ½ months after school,” Aftan Cunningham said. “As a collective, all the teachers voted on the design and we made it come to life.
Home Depot donated the materials and employee Josh Knapp built the bench, Wolanin said.
“It’s truly a family and a community that brought all this together,” Wolanin said.
“We don’t know why you had to go,” said fourthgrade student Darmaris Rodriguez. “We want you to be happy in heaven.”
With the unveiling, the families stood quietly, many crying.
Two purple banners were provided on tables so friends could write messages to the families.
Kayli Jacopin, Josue’s third-grade teacher, said in November when his illness worsened, they made a care package of super hero movies, popcorn and a cape with his name on it, because he loved watching the movies with his family.
“In our classroom right now his desk is still set up,” Jacopin said. “We have a box so kids can still write him letters. His favorite animal was a lion, so we have a stuffed lion in his seat. Kids can go up and cuddle and hold him.”
Wolanin said Nadeysha was an angel.
“She smiled every day,” Wolanin said. “She made us smile, no matter what the day was like, she was smiling. So in the display case is an angel for her
and a superhero for Josue. They’re both our heroes.”
The students still are working through the process of grieving in their own ways, Cunningham said.
“In both of our classrooms we have these little angels that look like Nadeysha,” Cunningham said. “Some of them still talk to her. They write to her all the time.”
Toby Koeth, Nadeysha’s third-grade teacher at Washington Elementary, played guitar while Ray Guzman added conga drums for the ceremony and refreshments.
Jacopin said Josue had a YouTube channel.
“My students still watch his YouTube channel,” Jacopin said. “I still watch them. I laugh and cry every time.”
The unveiling was to share those memories and emotions.
“We hope that everyone feels a sense of closure as a staff and as a school,” Aftan Cunningham said.
“Their memory is going to live on,” Milks said. “They won’t be forgotten.”