Michele Linane, a longtime director of the Fairfield preschool A Child’s Garden, died May 1 at the age of 58 following a battle with a respiratory virus.
Courtesy of Lacy Gerardi
Michele Linane, a longtime director of the Fairfield preschool A Child’s Garden, died May 1 at the age of 58 following a battle with a respiratory virus. She is pictured here with some of the children of A Children’s Garden.
Courtesy of Lacy Gerardi
Michele Linane, a longtime director of the Fairfield preschool A Child’s Garden, died May 1 at the age of 58 following a battle with a respiratory virus.
Courtesy of Lacy Gerardi
Michele Linane, a longtime director of the Fairfield preschool A Child’s Garden, died May 1 at the age of 58 following a battle with a respiratory virus.
Courtesy of Lacy Gerardi
DERBY – In her 31 years of overseeing the Fairfield daycare A Child’s Garden, Michele Linane always “made sure that everybody had what they needed and accommodated everybody’s needs,” from children and families to her staff, her colleagues said.
“She was extremely caring, and she put everything into A Child’s Garden,” said Lacy Gerardi, co-director of A Child’s Garden and a Newtown resident. “This place was her life and her passion.”
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Linane, of Derby, died Friday at Griffin Hospital at the age of 58, according to her obituary.
A GoFundMe page was set up to support Linane after she was diagnosed with Human Metapneumovirus, a contagious respiratory virus, and septic shock and hospitalized at Griffin Hospital in mid-April. The campaign is now raising money to cover funeral and burial expenses, as well as medical and other unexpected costs, according to the page.
As of Monday, the page raised more than $21,000 toward its $22,000 goal.
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Linane had been feeling congested and gone to a few doctors to find out what was going on but couldn’t find a physical diagnosis, said Anna Marie Imbrogno, a Fairfield resident and Linane’s best friend. Imbrogno said Linane went into Griffin Hospital on April 12, two days after her birthday, with breathing difficulties, and her body went into sepsis.
“They were doing all these tests on her and she was intubated,” Imbrogno said. “They were trying to figure out what was the matter, and things were not getting worse at that point – they were just getting more complicated. I actually thought she was doing a little better and then I got the diagnosis from her sister … You’re talking about a healthy woman who was just thinking she was going in for something so small, and then life fell apart after that.”
Gerardi said the staff at A Child’s Garden has been “pretty devastated” in the days following Linane’s death and have been in touch with Linane’s family to offer help. She said the preschool plans to “keep on keeping on” in Linane’s memory and continuing to do “all the fun things” she would organize for the preschool’s children.
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Gerardi, who has worked with Linane for the past 15 years, said she will miss Linane’s warm heart and genuine concern and love for others. She said Liane had a “crazy infectious laugh” and “would give anybody the shirt off her back.”
Linane and Gerardi would see families in town whose children had attended A Child’s Gardens and they all remembered Linane’s work as the director, Gerardi said.
“It really made it feel like a big family,” Gerardi said.
Imbrogno said she and Linane have been friends since they attended Norwalk Community College and they worked together at A Children’s Garden. Linane is also godmother to Imbrogno’s son, Nicholis.
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Along with having a heart of gold and a creative streak, Imbrogno said Linane could “stop a crowd” with her laugh and made everyone in her presence laugh too. Linane also loved shopping and visiting Amish Country as well as taking Imbrogno’s children out for activities.
“She was just a good person, always doing something for someone else, whether it was bringing over food when someone was sick or taking my son out because he lost a tooth,” Imbrogno said, “and I feel horribly for my son because his godmother was everything to him and I feel like he’s going to miss out for the rest of his life not going through things with her. She made everything so special.”
She said many others have similar feelings for Linane.
“Everyone who came in felt like her best friends because that’s how she treated everybody,” Imbrogno said.
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Linane also regularly donated to St. Vincent de Paul, according to her obituary. She also served as a greeter of St. Michael’s Church in Derby and as a member of the Derby 350th team, her obituary states.
Linane’s family will receive loved ones from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the chapel of Spinelli-Ricciuti Funeral Home in Derby, according to her obituary.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Thursday at St. Michael Church in Derby at 10 a.m., followed by an internment at Mount Saint Peter Cemetery in Derby, according to Linane’s obituary.
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