A LIFE OF LEARNING
Beloved teacher Milca Hernandez remembered for her dedication to Trenton’s youth »
TRENTON » Growing up, Milca Hernandez always wanted to play school.
She’d set up the coffee table in the family’s Stockton Street home like a desk and stand in front of a captivated audience of two reciting the alphabet and showing her brother and cousin how to write their letters.
Hernandez, 55, was a natural-born teacher before ever receiving degrees and certifications, her first pupil attested in a fitting sendoff this week for the longtime Trenton special education teacher, who was one of the capital city’s casualties in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“That was her biggest thing: She served. She served God from a young age until the days she passed away. And she served humanity,” brother and ex-Trenton cop Rolando Ramos said in delivering his sister’s eulogy.
Ramos and cousin Joshua benefited from then9-year-old Milca’s instruction. They entered kindergarten having mastered basics taught to kids in their first year of formal schooling, able to write their names, read simple words and do math.
“She prepared us that way,” Ramos said. “Every day, we had to play school. It wasn’t just a game for her. It was like a training, a preparation for her life.”
Hernandez was the eldest of five siblings, 16 years older than the youngest, Ariel, a reverend in Trenton, and an outspoken advocate from the start.
Her parents, Angel Louis and Miriam, raised the family in the Pentecostal Church Assemblies of God in Trenton, led by the Rev. Joseph Rodriguez Sr.
Hernandez found a way to challenge conventional wisdom while adhering to the reverence and traditions of the church, a delicate tightrope dance that won over those who came to know her, her brother said.
Devoted to the church and her craft, Hernandez received her bachelor’s degree from Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico - Recinto de Arecibo in 1998, moved back to Trenton and began teaching in the school district the same year.
She spent most of her career at Grace A. Dunn Middle School.
She also taught Sunday school and later received a ministry certification in 2007. She went on missions — many with youth groups — to some of the poorest, most underprivileged countries in Latin America, even when relatives urged her to cut back on the travel while she dealt with myriad health struggles, including diabetes.
“You couldn’t keep her from doing her missionary work,” Ramos said.
During her career as an educator, Hernandez taught some of the district’s most intellectually challenged and disabled students, many in self-contained settings where outcomes depend on the steadying forces in the classroom.
While some teachers shied away from such tough, heart-tugging assignments, Hernandez embraced the challenge and was twice named Teacher of the Year, according to her family.
“With our kids, seeing the same face every day is important,” said Nicole Whitefield, executive director of the Special Parent Advocacy Group that goes to bat for special education students in the region. “It helps their outcomes. To have someone like her who was dedicated and shows up on an every-day basis, she would be the greatest model for other teachers. She offered something to our students, which is stability.”
Hernandez returned to school and got her master’s in education from Canyon University last year, not long after her brother, a retired Trenton Police lieutenant, received his master’s from Seton Hall University.
“She instilled in me the love of learning,” Ramos said. “I’m always reading. I’m always trying to advance myself.”
Whenever relatives told her to seek teaching opportunities outside of Trenton, Hernandez slammed the door on the idea, dedicated to the children of the capital city.
“These are my kids. This is my town,” she’d say.
Addie Daniels-Lane, a former principal at Hernandez’s school and the president of the Trenton Board of Education, said the city educator’s death left a “tremendous void” for the community.
“Words cannot express how deeply saddened I was to learn of her passing. I know from personal experience and observation that she was the kind of teacher that you would want every child to have. She was a very warm, caring, knowledgeable educator who made all of her students feel valued,” Daniels-Lane said. “Ms. Hernandez was firm, yet fair and held high expectations for her students. She was highly respected by her colleagues and deeply appreciated by the parents of her students.
“Ms. Hernandez’s passing leaves a tremendous void in the lives of her students past and present, as well as the district. Sadly, the human toll of this current pandemic has become all too real for our district and her family. Certainly we extend our deepest sympathy to her family and all those who knew and loved her.”
Mayor Reed Gusciora also expressed condolences to Hernandez’s family, saying the tragedy of the virus is “really hitting home.”
“The progression of this disease is so rapid that it takes a lot of families by surprise,” he said. “Every loss from COVID has been devastating to the community. She has a legacy of helping to educate and guide hundreds, if not thousands of students. Her contribution to special education will be long-lasting.”
Hernandez and her husband of 33 years, Rev. David Hernandez, met in college and wed a year later, at a ceremony in Trenton.
“She brought him home and said, ‘This is the love of my life,’” Ramos said.
The couple had three daughters, Melody, Laura, and Bianca, and became ministers in their own right, preaching at the Assemblies of God in Long Branch for the last 13 years.
“She wasn’t one of those preachy women who tries to impose,” said Ramos, who looked to his sister whenever he struggled with his faith. “You saw who she was spiritually, through her actions and her example.”
Fervent in her ways, Hernandez kept a daily journal of prayers, asking for divine intercession for those around her. She kept notes every time her prayers were answered.
“She held God accountable,” Ramos said.
As her body started breaking down, Hernandez prayed for strength — all in an effort to keep serving.
“Lord, I know you have called on me to minister to children and youth,” she wrote. “Give me what I need each day in order to fulfill your will in my life. Use me bring change. Help me to your voice, hands and feet in order for the little ones to hear your gospel.”
Known to nieces and nephews as “Titi,” they recalled her as a “second mom” who’d gently pry them from their deep slumbers to start the day.
“Guys, wakey-wakey,” she would say, “time to get to work.”
Hernandez had been sick for a few days when she went to the hospital May 27. She was tested for COVID-19, returned home and died the next morning.
The test later came back positive, making her one of eight people in the family to contract the deadly virus, Ramos said. The others have recovered.
Ramos is convinced his sister knew her time had come and didn’t want to die alone, like many have in the pandemic.
The beloved grandmother of six grandsons passed away in her home, surrounded by family.
In his eulogy, Ramos recounted how his sister exemplified the “Parable of the Talents” in the Gospel of Matthew.
He recalled, at 13, his sister gave her first sermon, using puppets.
“She changed the whole dynamic of what it was to have a message of God for the children,” he said. “When her master called her and said, ‘My servant, Milca, what have you done with the talents I have given you?’ She didn’t have to say anything because the souls of the living all reached out, the army of all those people she touched reached out, and said, ‘We are her investment. We will testify to the investment that she made in this world.’ I can see Jesus coming to the gates of heaven and saying, ‘You have done enough. You have done enough.’”