For 30 years, Muriel Delabar-Ryan educated students, cultivated relationships and contributed to charitable organizations throughout the East Williston school district and community before her death in 2018.
On Monday, the district’s Board of Education approved a scholarship fund in Delabar-Ryan’s honor to be given each year to a senior who best exemplifies her characteristics and love of education.
“There was nobody quite like Muriel,” Wheatley Principal Sean Feeney said. “She was beloved by everyone. There are very few people to be an incredible teacher and be an even more amazing human. I thank the Board of Education for approving this scholarship to have Muriel’s legacy live on in our school district for years to come.”
Delabar-Ryan spent three decades as a teacher of myriad subjects, including special education at the Wheatley School. One of her dear friends and fellow teacher Joseph Crotty spoke in an interview about just how impactful she was.
“Words simply can’t do it justice, but I will surely try to explain,” Crotty said. “I think the first thing people should know is her unique ability to bring out somebody’s best traits. She saw the light in people that we sometimes may not notice in ourselves.”
When Crotty began teaching in the district, he turned to Delabar early and often for advice and guidance. Crotty said she was someone who immediately took him under her wing and showed him the ropes of teaching.
“Right away I knew that she was a special person,” Crotty said. “I really wouldn’t be the type of teacher I am today if it wasn’t for her. She taught even teachers so much about life inside and outside of the classroom.”
Aside from being a teacher, Delabar-Ryan was an integral part of the school’s Key Club. Crotty said through her work students were able to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, donate to organizations and raise awareness on a variety of hot-button issues.
Delabar-Ryan retired from teaching in 2014 but would come back to the school district on occasion to see teachers, students and even proctor ACT or SAT exams. In 2018, Crotty said she was scheduled to proctor an ACT exam, but called in sick at the last minute.
“She said that she was ill with maybe the flu or something similar and apologized she couldn’t be there,” Crotty said. “Later on, after it got more serious, she thought it was pneumonia. It turns out that it was a very aggressive and very rare form of cancer less than 1 percent of people get.”
Crotty did not want to speak about the specifics of the disease but said it led to Delabar-Ryan’s death in late November 2018 at the age of 63.
Members of the student body, faculty and staff were in utter disbelief and shock, according to Crotty. He said that there were several weeks where nobody wanted to even mention it.
“We were just all so distraught about losing this woman who was a real-life angel,” Crotty said. “I had principals and secretaries coming up to me saying that the phone lines were going off the hook with former students and colleagues asking for funeral arrangements and what they could do to help.”
Crotty, with the help of other faculty members, decided to organize a GoFundMe account and develop something that would properly honor Delabar-Ryan’s memory for generations to come. It was then that a memorial garden, bench, plaque and scholarship fund were developed.
“We had so much help from the community,” Crotty said. “It was truly unbelievable. We had Mike Zaino of Zaino’s Nursery & Garden Center provide us with the best materials for the garden, and other local businesses to pitch in as well.”
Wheatley’s scholarship committee developed the scholarship and decided that it would go to one senior each year who embodied everything Delabar-Ryan did. Crotty expressed his gratitude to everyone involved and to the school board for establishing the fund at last week’s board meeting.
“The scholarship means so much because we are giving it to someone who is empathetic, kind, outgoing, passionate and intelligent just like [Muriel] was,” he said. “I will forever be grateful to have been a part of preserving Muriel’s legacy for years to come.”
Crotty said anyone can donate to the fund by sending a check to the East Williston school district’s main office at 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568 made out to the Muriel Delabar-Ryan Scholarship Fund.
