Amityville woman who died at 44 gets send-off to remember

Before the funeral Saturday in Amityville for his late beloved wife Ana Isabel Brice, Todd Brice wanted to make sure he gave her a farewell that symbolized how she lived: positive, vibrant and full of life.

"She was truly our queen, the love of my life," husband Todd Brice told hundreds of people who gathered outside his family’s home on Ocean Avenue after they followed Ana’s coffin — which was placed in a caisson, a wagon used for royal and presidential funerals — in a procession several blocks from the Powell Funeral Home on 67 Broadway to their house for a life celebration event in her memory. "She wouldn’t have wanted me to have a sad wake and funeral. She would have cursed me for eternity if I had done that."

Ana Brice, a daughter of Spanish immigrants who had worked helping to translate Spanish to English for children in school systems, including the Amityville school district, died May 27 after battling lymphoma for roughly 14 months. She was 44. She left behind two children with Todd Brice: Quinn, 12, and Owen, 10.

After the funeral, those gathered sang John Denver’s "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in Brice’s honor before attending the life celebration in the couple’s backyard, where they were treated to food, upbeat music and beverages. They left flowers and messages on a wall covered with pictures of Brice, gave video testimonials about their memories of her to a videographer and placed their thumbprints around her own, taken before her death.

Michael Antonopoulos, 50, a family friend and owner of Icarus Flying academy in Farmingdale, said he arranged for small planes to fly over the couple's home in tribute to Ana Brice.

Mary Rath, 62, of Seaford, a longtime friend of Brice, said her friend was always thinking about helping others. Rath recalled that after Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012, Brice offered neighbors without power or running water to come over to her house for a hot meal or shower.

"She always cared about other people," Rath said. "No matter who she was with, she made you feel like you were the only person in the room. She was focused on you. There could be a hundred other people screaming her name and she made you feel special."

Annie Rodriguez of Merrick was friends with Brice when they attended John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore. Rodriguez, who ran track and field with Brice, said she remembered Brice as being "funny and always supportive."

"I would run with her, I’d finish, and she’d say ‘Let’s keep going!’ I would go ‘No, you keep going, I’ll stay here, and when you come back, just pick me up,’ " Rodriguez said with a smile. "She was always optimistic, and so funny. She was just a beautiful person."

Todd Brice, 44, whose mother Cary Pearsall died when he was 16 years old, told Newsday before the funeral that he wanted to give his wife a fitting send-off, so their children could have something else to remember her by as they grow older.

"This is really about them," he said of the couple's sons. "I want them to be able to pull up newspaper clippings and pictures 30 years from now and tell their kids what an awesome mom they had."