DeKalb community remembers Amy Fontana, lifelong Barb, educator

DeKALB – Amy Fontana, a beloved educator who loved ones said devoted her life to supporting DeKalb School District 428 students and advocating to end food insecurity, has died. She was 48.

Fontana, born Aug. 31, 1976, in DeKalb, died Nov. 19 after a cancer battle with metastatic ocular melanoma, according to her obituary.

Amy’s husband, T.J. Fontana, said he hopes Amy is remembered as somebody who cared a lot about her community.

“She had a really strong sense of what she believed in and she was not afraid to speak her mind and do what was within her power to improve things around her,” T.J. Fontana said.

T.J., also a DeKalb schoolteacher, and Amy were high school sweethearts. They married on May 29, 1999, at St. Mary’s Church in DeKalb, according to her obituary.

“We were in a couple theater productions together and both members of the [DeKalb High School] forensics team together,” T.J. Fontana said.

The rest was a whirlwind, he said.

“A couple different colleges here and there between the two of us,” T.J. Fontana said. “We dated all through that and we both ended up at [Southern Illinois University] together and both got our teaching degrees through there, graduated there and then moved back to DeKalb and both got jobs within the DeKalb School District at the same time.”

Over the course of her life, Amy was always proud to be a Barb, her husband said. She served on several local nonprofit boards, committees and teams, including Barb Food Mart and the DeKalb County Teachers’ Association.

“She had a really strong sense of what she believed in and she was not afraid to speak her mind and do what was within her power to improve things around her.”

—  Husband T.J. Fontana on late wife Amy

T.J. Fontana said Amy had in particular a soft spot for students who may have been struggling. He said his wife was inspired to give back to those less fortunate, and wanted to spread the joy of growing up in a supportive environment.

“I think it really became clear to her that so many kids just come from a home, in an environment that’s not always safe,” T.J. Fontana said. “Their needs are not always being met and it’s just incredibly difficult for people to overcome a tough start like that, that so many of our kids here in DeKalb have in life. She obviously came from a great home, a great family and had everything she needed, but when you see kids that don’t have that, we know the kind of problems that tend to pop up. I think at some point early on in her teaching career, I think she developed a real sensitivity to people out there in the world who look at people who are struggling and blame them for why they’re not more successful. And I think she really took issue with that.”

T.J. Fontana said he believes Amy’s philosophies about helping students rubbed off on a lot of other teachers in the district in a positive way.

“She motivated a lot of people, I think, to try to get active and to try to do a little bit more to help out in the community,” he said.

In a statement to Shaw Local, DeKalb Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez issued condolences and said that the district lost one of its own.

“We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mrs. Amy Fontana, a beloved educator in our DeKalb community,” Garcia-Sanchez said in a statement. “Mrs. Fontana was a devoted Barb and alumna of DeKalb High School. After graduating from college, she spent her entire teaching career in the District she loved at Clinton Rosette Middle School, Founders, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Our entire D428 family is grieving the loss of a valued mentor, colleague, teacher, and dear friend who touched so many lives. We extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends as they mourn this difficult loss.”

Tributes have poured in online since Amy Fontana’s death.

In a social media post, the private tutoring establishment Amy’s Schoolhouse, 122 N. First St., DeKalb, shared condolences to the Fontana family.

“Beloved mother, wife, sister, daughter, teacher, friend, active member of the DeKalb community,” the post reads. “Amy Fontana, you are missed. Please do something nice today in her memory.”

Barb Food Mart, 900 E. Garden St., DeKalb, the district’s food pantry, also took time to commemorate Amy’s life in a social media post.

“Everyone at Barb Food Mart would like to extend our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Amy Fontana, who passed away yesterday,” the post reads. “Amy was a long-term board member and a fierce advocate for BFM. Her dedication to our mission had a huge impact on the organization. Amy was always fighting the good fight for the benefit of our district families, both in the classroom and in her service to the community.

Our hearts are with the Fontana and Pickens families at this sad time. We are fortunate to have benefitted from their ongoing support as volunteers, and we are humbled to be included with the DeKalb Education Foundation and Youth Outlook as recipients of memorials in Amy’s honor. Thank you so much, Amy, and may you rest in peace.”

DeKalb Fire Department’s firefighters’s union, the DeKalb Fire Fighters Local 1236 also paid respect to Amy Fontana’s family and friends online.

“We at DeKalb Fire Fighters Local 1236 would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Amy Fontana! We were fortunate to get to know Amy’s passion for the community through Operation Warm Dekalb and the Barb Food Mart,” the post reads. “Rest In Peace Amy, you will be missed by all.”

Some remembered Amy’s impact as an educator years after they left her classroom.

In an email, DeKalb resident Ariel Williams said Amy truly made an impact on her as a student, something she still feels as an adult.

“I had the chance to be a student and speech member where she had a gift, making everyone feel like family; making speech meets and the classroom feel like home,” Williams said. “With her soft-spoken encouragement, support and advice, you could see the strength and care through her smile and just her bubbly personality when she taught. We all remember the ease we felt to raise our hand and ask questions in her classroom because of the safe environment she created for us within the building. When she spoke, we listened. When she taught, we learned so much.”

Amy Fontana was preceded in death by her father-in-law Mario Fontana and grandparents John and Louise Pickens and Nestor and Mary Lawson.

In lieu of flowers, the family said Amy would have wanted any donations to go to three local charities that support the bodies, minds and spirits of students in DeKalb School District 428. Those include: Barb Food Mart (www.barbfoodmart.com) DeKalb Education Foundation (www.dekalbeducationfoundation.org/,) and Youth Outlook (www.youth-outlook.org/.).