Teacher and coach Meaghan McGonagle of Cranston, Rhode Island, succumbed to Covid-19 on Dec.  16, 2021. She was only 41 years old. Photo credit: Providence Journal.

Sadly, Covid-19 continues to claim the lives of dedicated and beloved educators. One of these was Meaghan McGonagle, a popular teacher and coach from Cranston, Rhode Island. Only 41 years old, she succumbed to the disease on December 16, 2021.

Meaghan’s career as an educator in Cranston Public Schools spanned 15 years. For the past eight years, she taught Business courses at Cranston High School East. She also coached the girls and boys volleyball teams, leading both teams to state titles. In addition to working at Cranston she was the Entrepreneurship Program Instructor at Cranston Area Career and Technical Center, where she had worked for six years, and a Business Teacher at Guilderland Central School District, where she had worked for four years.

Meaghan’s absence will be keenly felt by her students, asserted Ken Hopkins, Mayor of Cranston. “[She] coached them through some championship seasons. The kids loved her,” he said. Hopkins recalled that he worked with the fallen educator for several years at Cranston East before he was elected mayor. “She was well-loved. She wasn’t one of those fly-by-night teachers that come and go. She was there, after school, with the kids, and very much a part of the Cranston East community,” he remembered.

Meaghan graduated from Pilgrim High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1998. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management from Siena College, New York, in 2002. There she was a two-time team captain on the women’s basketball team.