Nov 12, 2012 2 min read 124 beach street

Tragic Death Of Local Teacher Leaves Family, Friends Shocked

Our Lady of Grace parish, where beloved teacher Nancy Sorenson worked. Source: Google Maps

Nancy Sorenson, a teacher at Our Lady of Grace at 430 Avenue W in Gravesend, bled to death after a shard of glass sliced her arm in her Rockaway home while her husband desperately tried to get her to safety during the worst of Hurricane Sandy.

Sorensen, who lived on Beach 124th Street in Rockaway Park, tried to retrieve some items from her flooded basement on the eve of Sandy’s onslaught. A surge of water pushed a broken mirror into left arm, nearly slicing it off.

Her husband, Tom, saw the rush of water and dove in to try to save his wife.

“All of the sudden, I had to swim to the back of the basement to get her. I grabbed her and threw her on my shoulder and pulled her out of the basement,” he told the New York Daily News.

After Tom carried Nancy upstairs, he, his 18-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter noticed how badly Nancy was hurt.

“Her arm was almost severed in half,” Tom recalled.

They tried to bandage and bind her arm, while calling 911 for her. Unfortunately, medics could not get to their home because of the flooded streets. Nancy bled to death in front of her distraught family on October 30.

Students at Our Lady of Grace are devastated by the loss. On a memorial page, one student writes:

Dear Mrs. Sorensons Family, I am so so sorry for your loss.. Mrs. Sorenson was greatly loved in the OLG family and was admired. When I heard of her death I was completely torn and fell to the ground in disbelief. I still remember your shining face radiating through the hallway like it was yesterday. Ily and miss you so much.<3 Take care, Mrs. Sorensons family and stay strong. God will guide you. XOXO, A student.

Her husband remembers a wife, mother and teacher who was loved by everyone. Their eldest daughter, 21, has taken time off from college to be with her family. Now Tom Sorenson is left alone, worrying about the future of their three children, Trish, Greg and Erika.

Nancy’s colleagues and friends have set up a fund to help Tom put their children though school at www.giveforward.com/nancysorensenneegalvinmemorialfund.