2008 Woodie Awards
Students cope with loss of loved ones
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
Originally published: 11/13/08 at 5:53 PM EST
Last update: 11/14/08 at 9:07 AM EST
The day she said goodbye to her best friend for the final time, Jessica Schaefer knew she had a job to do.
A cast of 30 was depending on her. A sellout crowd was waiting to see her. A number of people, from professors to students to members of the Plattsburgh community, needed her to go on.
So she did.
She went out and sang at the funeral of Brian Mehan, a former Plattsburgh State student and baseball standout who died in March 2008 after a year-long battle with cancer, a friend who affectionately referred to Schaefer as the sister he never had. Hours later, she was singing again, gracing the Hartman Theatre stage as the gregarious Adelaide in the musical "Guys and Dolls," forcing an opening night smile at a time when tears begged to take its place.
The next day, she did it again. And the next. And the next.
"I had to hang up a blank hanger in my dressing room every night," recalled the PSUC senior, "and I said, 'those are my emotions, and I will have to pick them up after the show.'"
It wasn't that easy.
The week after her final bow as Adelaide, Schaefer began rehearsals for the modern
drama "Dog Sees God," a show centered on themes of grief and loss, forcing her to be reminded of Mehan's death at every practice.
Not until the summer, Schaefer said, was there enough time to grieve the loss of her "brother," the friend she had visited nightly during his fight with the fatal disease.
"I never really was able to grieve," Schaefer said. "With the show, and then starting another show right after that, I really didn't have that time for myself until the semester ended."
PSUC Director of Health Education Services Jerimy Blowers said Schaefer's experience was not out of the ordinary.
"Students are nothing if not busy," Blowers said. "And when you lose a close friend or a family member, it's like everything suddenly comes to a halt. You want the time to grieve, but you also want to keep up with your schoolwork, your clubs, social life - all the things that keep college students busy day in and day out."
A cast of 30 was depending on her. A sellout crowd was waiting to see her. A number of people, from professors to students to members of the Plattsburgh community, needed her to go on.
So she did.
She went out and sang at the funeral of Brian Mehan, a former Plattsburgh State student and baseball standout who died in March 2008 after a year-long battle with cancer, a friend who affectionately referred to Schaefer as the sister he never had. Hours later, she was singing again, gracing the Hartman Theatre stage as the gregarious Adelaide in the musical "Guys and Dolls," forcing an opening night smile at a time when tears begged to take its place.
The next day, she did it again. And the next. And the next.
"I had to hang up a blank hanger in my dressing room every night," recalled the PSUC senior, "and I said, 'those are my emotions, and I will have to pick them up after the show.'"
It wasn't that easy.
The week after her final bow as Adelaide, Schaefer began rehearsals for the modern
drama "Dog Sees God," a show centered on themes of grief and loss, forcing her to be reminded of Mehan's death at every practice.
Not until the summer, Schaefer said, was there enough time to grieve the loss of her "brother," the friend she had visited nightly during his fight with the fatal disease.
"I never really was able to grieve," Schaefer said. "With the show, and then starting another show right after that, I really didn't have that time for myself until the semester ended."
PSUC Director of Health Education Services Jerimy Blowers said Schaefer's experience was not out of the ordinary.
"Students are nothing if not busy," Blowers said. "And when you lose a close friend or a family member, it's like everything suddenly comes to a halt. You want the time to grieve, but you also want to keep up with your schoolwork, your clubs, social life - all the things that keep college students busy day in and day out."
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