Christina “Teena” Heim of Pearl River passed away peacefully with her family by her side on July 21, 2020.
She was told by faculty at her high school that she probably shouldn’t attempt to “bother with college” — because her grades were low. But, per her daughter Angela Nicosia, Teena took that as a challenge. She thought: “Well, I’m going to prove you wrong.”
And she did. Teena went on to receive two Master’s degrees — one in computer science and one in teaching. She taught elementary education in the Bronx, New York, for 25 years. She truly seemed to find her life’s calling as an educator, Angela tells us. Everything she touched in the classroom turned to “gold” — even when she had to turn to her own resources to support her students. “Teaching was my mom’s life passion,” Angela remembers. “She used to meet some of [her students] at the NYC library on weekends to show them how to navigate it. She also used her own money to buy them school supplies, as the school budgets were very limited and most of the kids couldn’t afford to buy their own.”
Teena retired from teaching in 2002. Less than two decades later, just last month, the beloved educator died from Covid-19 complications. Teena was born in the Bronx on August 21, 1946. An only child in an Italian family, she was raised in Parkchester — going to church and hanging out with friends on the street corner. It was on that street corner that Teena met Edward, the love of her life. “For six months they dated — and she didn’t know his name. She thought his name was ‘Mouse,’ because that was his nickname,” Angela laughs.
Edward and Teena married in 1970, and a few years later, they moved to nearby Pearl River, New York, to raise their two kids — Angela and a son, also named Edward. But Teena commuted into the city each day to teach elementary education at NYC Public School 36. After retiring in 2002, she became an avid golfer. She learned the sport to spend time with her husband, and at one point, she even served as president of three golf leagues.
But retirement couldn’t keep Teena out of the classroom. She continued teaching at her local Catholic school, where she helped children learn Bible passages. “Teena always had a smile on her face, and was so patient and kind to the kids,” the program’s director Marie Gartner remembers. In her later years, she frequently traveled with her children and grandchildren. This past February, before the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged New York City, Teena and her husband were on a trip to their vacation home in Boca Raton, Florida. They went out to dinner and, in an effort to snag a great table, told a white lie to the server: She said it was her 50th anniversary with Edward, although the actual date wasn’t until July. “I have a picture of that,” Angela tells us. “She got to celebrate her 50th anniversary in February.”
Ultimately, Teena spent her actual 50th anniversary in a hospital ICU. “I remember a vivid image of her over FaceTime, wiping her chest and forehead of sweat,” Angela tells us. “She’s like, ‘I’m sweating profusely. I don’t know what this is. I can’t explain this horrible feeling.’”Teena died on July 21, 2020, at the age of 73. “She just did whatever she could for her kids,” Angela said. “Even up to the end, my brother was saying, ‘We can’t lose her. She did so much.’”
She is survivied by her husband Edward and her 2 children, son Edward and her daughter Angela (Matthew) Nicosia.  Her grandchildren Joseph “JT”, Dea Rose, and Nicholas