Together, Connie McDade and her husband, Lee McDade, gave decades to the students of Hamilton County Schools.
On Friday, after suffering several months of illness, Connie McDade, assistant principal of Big Ridge Elementary School, died.
Connie McDade had worked in the district since 1996, first as a teacher at Thrasher Elementary and then as an assistant principal at Big Ridge.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said District 3 School Board member Joe Smith, who has known the McDades for many years. “Every time you see Connie, she always had a smile on her face.”
According to a release from the district, school administrators visited Connie McDade in the hospital the morning of her death. They were there in support of both Connie, and her husband, an assistant superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.