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Newsday published obits of 13 who died as a result of Sandy. One woman among the storm victims led an admittedly unusual life, but she tried to do right by her sons in at least one facet of their upbringing.
ANNE MARIE DOLAN, 55, COMMACK
When superstorm Sandy struck on Oct. 29 -- and for several years before that -- Anne Marie Dolan, a former schoolteacher in Levittown, was living in a tent in a wooded Commack area.
She walked everywhere. To Sports Authority and Target, where employees let her wash up in their bathrooms. To the library to browse books and use the Internet.
Some days, however, her friend Karen Metcalf would drive her to Sunken Meadow beach so she could feel the sand and ocean on her feet.
"It wasn't an easy life, but it was what she preferred," Metcalf, 28, said of Dolan's homelessness. "And she had the strength to pursue the life that made her happy."
Jesse Emery, 55, who once lived across the street from Dolan in Smithtown, said she had started living in the woods near Veteran's Memorial Highway after a falling out with her family.
"She was a free spirit," Emery said. "She loved politics. She loved art. She loved music. I don't know why she left her home and her family to go out there, but she lived on her own terms."
Dolan, 55, died when a tree fell on her tent. Metcalf found her body Nov. 5.
"I saw her backpack sitting there and I just knew," a tearful Metcalf said. "I don't think she suffered, because it looked like she went to sleep that night . . . and never woke up."
Metcalf and Dolan, her mentor and "very best friend," were formerly neighbors in Levittown. They lost touch for several years and when they reconnected, Dolan was without work, family or home.
Metcalf said she had long pleaded with Dolan to come live at her Lindenhurst home, begging more profusely as Sandy approached. Red Cross workers, too, urged her to seek shelter that night. She refused, wanting to stay with her belongings.
"I made her promise to call me the next day," Metcalf said, "but she didn't call."
Dolan's life before her homelessness revolved around her two sons and teaching career, Metcalf and Dolan's estranged son, Brendan Spano, 28, said. She was a single mother who performed all the handiwork around the house and took her boys camping, to museums and to Mets games.
She taught history and Spanish at Levittown public schools, the district confirmed. She then worked at churches in Smithtown.
Dolan graduated with a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University in 1979, the school said, and was a Delta Chi Delta sorority member.
Spano and his older brother, Sean Spano, 30, of Hurst, Texas, said they hadn't spoken to their mother since 2001. They did not detail their estrangement.
Brendan Spano said that in their childhood, "Mom was really good about shielding us from anything going on in her life that she didn't want us to know about." He has been contacting Dolan's friends to learn more about her, "putting together a puzzle," he said.
Metcalf and Spano said they are planning Dolan's memorial services. She will be cremated.
Some of Dolan's ashes will be spread at the Sunken Meadow beach she loved to walk on, Metcalf said.
-- EMILY NGO AND KEVIN DEUTSCH |
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