Heart

Published by The National Herald, December 26, 2004

Teacher’s Heart Now Beating Inside 13-Year-Old Boy

NEW YORK – Vassiliki Renta, a 48-year-old Greek-language teacher at the Saint Demetrios Afternoon School in Astoria, passed away last week Wednesday, December 15, after suffering a stroke inside one of the School’s classrooms two days earlier. The teacher had fallen ill in front of a class of third graders, to never recover.

Her heart has started beating again, however, after being transplanted into a 13-year-old boy the very next day at the Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.

At the time of the teacher’s funeral last Saturday, December 18, family friends did not have any specific information about the organ recipient, but told the National Herald that the operation had been successful.

Mrs. Renta leaves behind her husband Philip Gavrielidis, and two children, Maria and Leonidas. Funeral services were held at St. Demetrios Cathedral, right next to the School where Mrs. Renta had taught for almost 20 years of her life.

The Herald followed this unexpected drama from the moment the teacher’s family first dealt with the loss at the emergency room of Mount Sinai Hospital in Astoria, where the teacher was taken last week Monday, soon after she collapsed at the School.

"Please mom, I want you. Don’t leave us. What will become of us without you? Open your eyes," Maria said, weeping over her mother’s bed as relatives and friends desperately tried to console her. Young Leonidas stood aside crying, while Mr. Gavrielidis sat silent trying to come to grips with the sudden tragedy.

It all started soon after 3 PM on December 13. Mrs. Renta had just entered her classroom and put down the microphones she was going to use during the Christmas Eve celebrations she helped organize at the School, just as she did every year.

"The mother of a student called me to tell me that Vassiliki was not feeling well," St. Demetrios Afternoon School Principal Timoleon Kokkinos told the Herald. "I ran to her side immediately. She was in the bathroom, where she had asked to be taken so she could put some water on her face. She had also asked for some aspirin. I told her, ‘hold on Vassiliki.’ She couldn’t stand on her feet, and she fell in my arms. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back, her face turned yellow, and her feet were stretched and grew tight," Mr. Kokkinos recalled. "I called for help."

Help was soon on the way, first from local physician, Dr. Demetrios Markouizos, who had been summoned by Athena Regla, a close friend of Mrs. Renta. An ambulance also arrived and took the teacher to the hospital.
But it was too late.

"The doctors said that she had suffered a serious stroke and three consecutive heart attacks in the process," Mr. Kokkinos said. "We were told that she was clinically dead."

According to family friends, Mrs. Renta also suffered two more heart attacks while in the hospital.

While the teacher was still on life support and comatose, she was visited by Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey, who told the Herald that, as St. Demetrios’ former pastor, he had admired Renta for her dedication and hard work. The Very Rev. Apostolos Koufalakis, current pastor at St. Demetrios, and parish priests, Rev. John Antonopoulos and Rev. Stavros Anagnostopoulos, and the Very Rev. Iakovos Koutsaftis, pastor of Sts. Constantine & Helen Cathedral in Jackson Heights, where Mrs. Renta also taught Greek every Saturday at the Afternoon School there, also went to see her. Mrs. Renta also taught in public schools on weekday mornings.

"Vassiliki lost her life in the line of duty," Mr. Kokkinos said. "She was a devoted mother and teacher. Until the very moment of her death, she was working on the Christmas celebrations of our School," he told the Herald, adding that the deceased teacher’s husband, who owns a tailor’s shop in Astoria, had also recently suffered from unspecified health conditions. "So she was working even harder to support her family," Mr. Kokkinos said.

"She was a very energetic and lively person," Archimandrite Koufalakis told the Herald. "She gave her job, everything, because she adored the School and her students," he added.

"This is a tremendous loss for our school," added Rev. Koufalakis, who told the Herald that the community "will do everything it can to help the teacher’s family through this time of tragedy." A counselor has already been sent to offer support to the family, he added, especially for the teacher’s daughter, who has suffered a nervous breakdown.

Maria Renta-Gavrielidis’ sorrow was evident at her mother’s funeral last Saturday, December 17, as she entered St. Demetrios Cathedral for the funeral services, trembling by her brother and father’s side.

"The news of Vassiliki Renta’s death struck all of us like lightning," said Metropolitan Evangelos during his eulogy. The Metropolitan wished for the School to continue the deceased teacher’s work.

"She was loved and humble. She taught with passion and touched the hearts and souls of so many people. She worked without expecting anything in return. She instilled in her students her own love of Greece," he said, asking the congregation to pray for the teacher who "has left two children behind in pain, who long for their mother to come back to them." Addressing her husband, the Metropolitan asked him to be strong. Metropolitan Evangelos also conveyed the Archbishop’s condolences to the family.

"We lost Vassiliki in the same walls where, every day, we try to instill the values of Greek education in our children," Mr. Kokkinos said in his eulogy. "Your work and devotion will never be forgotten Vassiliki," the principal continued. "You have made your mark in our educational system and its schools," he concluded.

"She was a blessed soul, a flower of our own family," Archimandrite Koufalakis said in his eulogy. "She was devoted to her students, to education and to our community’s school. She was a diamond. She was at the forefront of all our events. Now our School has been orphaned. God chose for Vassiliki to leave us inside the classrooms where she had taught for all these years. We will pray for God to give us strength to continue your work."

Addressing the teacher’s children, Archimandrite Koufalakis said, "You should know that, from now on, this community is your home. Our doors will always be open to you, to assist you in any need."

The evening before the funeral, Maria, surrounded by family and friends, had opened numerous letters and cards which her mother’s students sent the family to express their own feelings of grief over the sudden and dramatic loss of their beloved teacher. "We love you. We love your smile," one of the cards from Astoria’s PS 234 read.

The St. Demetrios School and Cathedral community has opened bank account #07059302 for the teacher’s children. Checks can be sent directly to Atlantic Bank. For more information, call 718-932-2300.



Volume 6 Number 52 - Tuesday, December 28th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY