Education major remembered for the lesson she happily taught others
By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
She smiled.
She taught.
She listened.
She cared.
And she died. But in her time on Earth, she lived a fun life – and she helped others enjoy theirs.
Maria Cardonita, a 41-year-old elementary education major in her junior year at Northwestern, died Sept. 29. Her funeral was Tuesday.
Cardonita is survived by her husband, Tommy, and their two children, Julius and Jordyn, according to her obituary.
And she’s survived by something else: her smile.
Cardonita worked at the local head start as a family advocate, serving as a liaison between families and educators. Dr. Christee Jenlink, the chair of the division of education at Northwestern, said it was a fitting role for someone who embraced motherhood – the highs and the lows, the easy moments and the difficult ones.
“I think she would have been a great teacher because she could roll through the tough times,” Jenlink said. “She would have been an encourager, a supporter, as a teacher.”
To her friends, she was a careful listener.
Amy Melton, a secretary in the division of education, met Cardonita when Cardonita and her family moved from New Mexico to Alva eight years ago. Melton said she thought Cardonita needed a friend. But Melton would soon learn that she needed one herself.
Melton has a son with special needs, she said. And whenever she wanted to confide in someone about the challenges of parenting, Cardonita was there. Melton and Cardonita often worked out at the gym together, talking about their lives.
Patiently, intently and caringly, Cardonita heard what Melton had to say.
“She would just listen to my hardship of what we face daily,” Melton said. “She was a gem.”
She could lighten the mood, too, with her warm sense of humor. She didn’t just tell jokes, though. Usually, she was the subject.
“She could laugh at herself,” Melton said. “She was never so serious that she’d get upset.”
In part, that’s because Cardonita was fun to be around, Melton said. And helping others have fun? In Jenlink’s eyes, that was one of Cardonita’s gifts – and one of the lessons she taught with a smile.
“Learning should be fun, no matter what level,” Jenlink said. “That doesn’t mean she didn’t take it seriously, because she did. But for Maria, she wanted to have fun while she learned. And walking into a classroom, if she was in there, I could always count on her looking up and smiling. Always.
“No matter what. It was still there.”