QUEENS — Students, teachers and parents gathered Monday at a Rego Park school to honor their gym teacher who died last month after slipping down a flight of stairs.
During an emotional ceremony held in the schoolyard at J.H.S. 157 Stephen Halsey, students shared memories of their coach, 39-year-old Josh Abrams, who passed away after suffering a traumatic brain injury when he fell down the stairs of his Bayville, Long Island home.
“He gave people nicknames a lot,” said an eighth-grader named Claire. “I was 'Borgata' because my last name is Borgatti.”
“And he cared about everyone," she continued.
Abrams left behind his wife, Jessica, and son, Axel. His wife is expecting the couple's second child in May, his family wrote on a GoFundMe page set up for his children's education, which had collected nearly $74,000 as of Monday.
During the memorial service, students held blue and orange balloons and wore T-shirts with the Mets logo — 1,000 of which were donated by Abrams' beloved baseball team for the occasion.
They also wrote dozens of cards to their teacher's family, and expressed their grief with hundreds of tribute messages hand-written on blank posters the school taped to the wall for that purpose.
"We will miss you every second of every day," one of the students wrote.
Principal Vincent Suraci said the event was an opportunity for the entire school community to come together in remembering Abrams.
“I wanted today to be a celebration for Mr. Abrams so that our children, parents and teachers had an opportunity to share happy moments and happy times, to share what made Mr. Abrams so endearing to them and so loved by them,” Suraci said.
Kitti Fisher-Borgatti, president of the Halsey Parents Association, also took a moment to remember Abrams during the event, noting their shared "appreciation of obscure lines from 'Goodfellas' and 'Caddyshack.'"
“You will never be forgotten,” she said. "It was his dedication to not only the physical education of our children, but their overall well-being — socially and mentally as well — that sealed the deal in me knowing he was a special individual."
The Halsey Parents Association said Monday that it will also hold a separate fundraiser for the Abrams family in November.
