Popular, longtime Oakwood kindergarten teacher dies after
nine-month battle with brain cancer
Students at Oakwood Country School, along with school staff and parents, Friday celebrated the life of teacher Lisa Curley, who died Tuesday after a nine-month battle with brain cancer.
All Curley’s life, her family and friends recall, she tried to make people laugh and feel better.
Ted Helvey, Oakwood co-owner with wife, Michelle, said the school was fortunate to have Curley on staff.
“Lisa was one of the most energetic and enthusiastic people I have ever known,” he said Thursday. “She put that energy into everything she did, especially teaching children.”
Curley, 45, was born in Provo, Utah. She and her husband, Douglas, have lived in Morgan Hill for 18 years.
When Curley was diagnosed with cancer, she was flooded with letters from people wishing her well.
“We started putting all the letters on the wall in her room, but we had to stop after four days because we ran out of room,” Douglas said. “She never knew how much she was loved. I always tried to tell her how great she was, especially to the students.”
Curley’s father Richard Lyman recalled a time when she played a joke her sister, Lynda, by sending gifts, including a box of chocolates, all from “Julious Corntalis.”
For months the joke went on until the truth finally surfaced.
Dina Campeau, a parent and a columnist for The Times, described her as “one of the most funny, grounded and loving women I knew … She had the most whimsical wardrobe of anyone I ever saw. Some days, she’d be dressed like a cat, others as a lamb. It was always something different and cheery.”
As a professional seamstress, Curley ran a drapery business for years, but for the last seven years she taught junior kindergarten at Oakwood.
The Oakwood community attended a special assembly Friday morning to celebrate Curley’s life.
“I think the celebration of Crazy Hat Day at Oakwood is a very appropriate celebration since she loved to dress up for school, and she almost always had some crazy hat and outfit that went with whatever she was teaching the children,” Helvey said. “Being a very skilled seamstress, she made them all herself.”
Those who were close to her describe Curley as a “giver” in her relationships.
“After she was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer, I remember how surprised she was by the outpouring of love in her direction,” said Helvey. “She had always been the one to give, and then when she couldn’t give, she was simply amazed by the giving that came back to her.
“She would say to me, ‘I never knew that so many people cared and that I made such a difference.’ Of course, those of us who knew her, were not surprised one bit. She had just never slowed down enough to notice.”
During Wednesday catechism classes at St. Catherine Church, students gathered as usual in the church before going to class for an opportunity to ask fellow catechism students to pray for their concerns; several of them raised their hands – students and former students of Curley’s – to ask everyone to pray for their teacher.
Curley and her family attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
“I was in the unusual position of knowing her at school and at church,” Helvey said. “Not only was she a longtime teacher at Oakwood, but she was the children’s music leader at church. She loved children and they loved her.”
One of Curley’s last “projects” was her involvement in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life held at Oakwood last spring.
“Last year, she had a special area for the kids and they made a quilt during the event,” said Helvey. “The quilt was then a prize in a drawing and the winner then chose to give the quilt to the school as a gift. We hang it proudly behind our front desk at the Oakwood.”
This year’s Relay for Life will be especially meaningful to those she was close to, Helvey said.
Staff Writer Cheeto Barrera contributed to this story.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at md****@mo*************.com or phoning (408)779-4106 Ext. 202.
