The Penacook Elementary School community hasn’t forgotten Chris Foley. Not by a long shot.
It’s been more than a year since students saw their late principal sitting at his desk at the school’s “four corners” junction and wearing his signature bow ties and grin as he greeted students, and eight months since Foley lost his fight against an aggressive sarcoma tumor that had taken up residence in his stomach and worked its way through his body. He was 39, and he left behind a wife and three children.
But on Friday, the community will have the chance to participate in one of his dreams: a fun run, organized by the school’s parent-teacher group, the proceeds of which will go toward funding two $100 sports scholarships for students, as well as an assembly and hopefully after-school programs.
It’s still hard for those who loved Foley to accept that he’s gone.
“We are taking everything one day at a time,” said his wife, Lindsey Foley, via email. “Not a day or hour goes by without us talking about Chris.”
The school struggles, too.
“I think we’re just trying to figure out what our new normal is,” said PES Principal Jenn Moore. “It’s definitely still a difficult time for us, trying to pick up the pieces and move forward.”
But when it comes to fostering a caring community within the school, Foley’s character is still very present, Moore said.
That community, Lindsey Foley said, has been critical to her family’s ability to take Foley’s loss one day at a time.
“I am so privileged to be a part of the PES community,” she said. “I am so grateful for all of the support we have received from the PES community, the Rochester Community, the Concord Community and of course our friends and family.”
And that community is coming together once again for the fun run.
Organizer and parent-teacher group member Joni Melby said the event is everything Foley would have wanted – a low-key, fun event that brings families together while supporting students.
“He was involved in kids’ lives,” she said. “He wanted to improve things and have a relationship in the community.”
For Lindsey Foley, her late husband lives on in the smiles and grimaces of her sons, William and Camden.
“Sometimes the looks on their faces are so similar that I have to do a double take and then laugh to think of how much Chris would get a kick out of that,” she said.
And Chris Foley is always a topic of conversation at the family dinner table, Lindsey Foley said.
It’s hard to be in the school without seeing her husband walking around, she said. Harder still to imagine him there when her oldest, Ellie, starts kindergarten in the fall.
But reframing helps. “Whenever we’re driving by PES, the kids are quick to point out ‘Daddy’s School,’ and then we change it to ‘soon-to-be-Ellie’s School,’ ” Lindsey Foley said.
For now, it’s enough to know the community will come together in his name.
“He would be so proud to see how the school and community continues to support each other,” Lindsey Foley said.
Foley’s spirit lives on through the school’s culture.
It’s alive in how the school works to become a safe place for students who have experienced trauma, one of Foley’s passions, and how they’re learning to create “responsive classrooms,” a term Moore uses to describe a culture of good citizens and cooperative learners. It’s alive in the monthly “Mugs and Munchkins” events the school holds to get parents involved in their children’s education.
And it lives on in the New England Patriots fervor that has become part of the fabric of the faculty culture. There are the Patriots-themed curtains that hang in the staff room; the Patriots-themed bow tie that the gnome figurine, which once belonged to Foley, in Moore’s office wears; and the only picture Foley’s family left in her office, a framed piece of art of a football that says, simply, “How do you win? You do your job.”
For those unfamiliar, that’s a reference to Patriots’ mantra coined by head coach Bill Belichick, Foley’s hero.
Those reminders make it easier for Moore to sit in her office, which used to be Foley’s. She avoided moving in there for as long as she could.
“This didn’t happen until April,” Moore said, gesturing around the room. “I didn’t want to come in here. … I was worried about the message it would send to staff.”
But life moves forward. The school is expecting a new assistant principal, Croydon Village School’s Kelly George. And Moore, who assumed the acting principal role when Foley got sick in early 2017, had to do her job. That meant meeting with teachers and parents, and Moore’s former office was too cramped for that.
Moving offices was the first challenge, but Moore acknowledged that she has more ahead. She said she wants to find a place to hang out where students can see her. Not the four corners – that spot belongs to Foley – but maybe near the library.
And eventually, Moore plans to put her own spin on how the school is run. She’s not quite sure what that will look like yet – part of what made her and Foley such a good team, she said, was how well their visions for the school meshed – but she said it involves making learning exciting and meeting children where they are.
She said she can’t think of a better tribute to Foley’s legacy.
The Foley Fun Run and Family Picnic will kick off at Penacook Elementary School on Friday, with registration at 5:30 p.m. and races at 6 p.m. Concessions will be available for purchase, and burgers and hot dogs will be free to race participants. Patches the Clown will be present for entertainment. All registrants are entered into a raffle.
Proceeds will fund two sports scholarships for PES students, a schoolwide assembly or event, and/or a Beyond the Bell program.
The course will consist of laps around Penacook Elementary School. Participants will track their own time and laps.
Registration is $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 6-17. Children ages 5 and under are free. For information and to register, visit localraces.com/events/concord-nh/foley-fun-run. Registration is capped at 250 participants.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)