NSBNews.net video by Henry Frederick / New Smyrna Beach High School teacher Frederick Fernandez is remembered at the school by his students with a moment of silence and cards, and on a special Facebook page, "Remember Mr. Fernandez," thanks to 2010 graduate Megan Leigh Tully.
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NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- It seems just like yesterday that Megan Leigh Tully had Frederick "Fico" Fernandez as a math teacher, but time marches forward quickly. She's now in college and he's dead.
As cold as that sounds, such is the lesson of life for a young gal who had just graduated from New Smyrna Beach High School in May.
She's just starting her freshman year at Jacksonville University where she is majoring in business and working in a Publix grocery store to help pay for her studies.
Though Fernandez, 55, married with three children, was an experienced surfer having ridden the curling waves of Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Mediterranean shores of Israel, he fell head-first 11 a.m. Saturday in the swollen surf in New Smyrna Beach in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
When friends got Fernandez to shore, he had no vital signs and was pronounced dead at Bert Fish Medical Center. An autopsy by the Volusia County Medical Examiner would later reveal he suffered a broken neck and had a large laceration on his head either from striking his board or the ocean floor on the far side of the first wave break.
For the impressionable 18-year-old Tully, the initial news of his death was unlike any other she had known or felt to this point. Having seen sporadic messages creep up on Facebook and widespread media reports, within several hours of his death, she put her energies and emotions into creating a page on the popular social media outlet: "Remember Mr. Fernandez."
For the impressionable 18-year-old Tully, the initial news of his death was unlike any other she had known or felt to this point. Having seen sporadic messages creep up on Facebook and widespread media reports, within several hours of his death, she put her energies and emotions into creating a page on the popular social media outlet: "Remember Mr. Fernandez."
It was up and running at 5:38 p.m. with her name only. By midnight, she drew close to 900 people, which NSBNews.net exclusively chronicled that night. As of Wednesday morning she had 1,447 people connected to the page.
Of all the people in New Smyrna Beach, why was Tully the one to bring so many people together -- children, adults, surfers, non-surfers, even Fernandez's wife, Deb?
"I just wanted everyone that knew him as a teacher or fellow surfer or friend to have a way to remember him and for the community to come together to celebrate his life," explained the former Show Dolls captain and 2010 New Smyrna Beach High graduate. "I (didn't) know all the details about the accident and (didn't) feel comfortable speaking about it because it isn't in my place to tell about what happened to him. I'm just here for people to have a way to celebrate the person he was and show our respects to this wonderful man that was taken from us."
She continued: "I had him as a teacher in my sophomore year for algebra two and my senior year for advanced placement statistics. The reason I decided to make this page is because I know how much he helped me through high school and how much he cared about each of his students. So many people loved the way he taught."
Tully said Fernandez was passionate how teaching, even jumping on top of the cabinet to reach the top of the white (black) board when he taught his lessons.
Fernandez also shared with his students his love of music by playing harmonica with a local band, his love for his wife and kids and how proud he was of them, and most of all, how he lived for surfing, Tully said.
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Remembrances were made by students at NSB High and on Facebook for Frederick Fernandez, a beloved math teacher who died Saturday in a freak surfing accident at the beach.
With the mainstream media focused on the sensational side of the story, Tully saw Facebook as the social media outlet that could provide the human side for those overcome with grief like her.
"In this generation, Facebook is a way of connecting to people from wherever you are at," Tully explained. "It gives people a way to tell their memories of him and a way to say goodbye. I most of wanted people to celebrate his life, he was a great person and I feel very blessed to have met him."
"In this generation, Facebook is a way of connecting to people from wherever you are at," Tully explained. "It gives people a way to tell their memories of him and a way to say goodbye. I most of wanted people to celebrate his life, he was a great person and I feel very blessed to have met him."
Even as she was putting the page together, Tully found herself overcome with grief and openly cried in front of her computer.
"My brother has been a surfer for as long as I can remember and it made me think it could just as easily have been him," she said, of her 22-year-old sibling.
Tully said she didn't know what exactly attracted Fernandez to surfing, but sees it "as a sport all about being one with nature and experiencing the beauty of the ocean."
Tully's Facebook page likely prepared many of his former and current students for the grief they would feel once assembled Monday in school. Tager called the students' homes Sunday on a reverse 911 system to announce Fernandez had died suddenly.
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A home-made sign hangs on a post in the courtyard of New Smyrna Beach High School in honor of Frederick Fernandez, as shown here teaching math.
Principal Jim Tager said grief counselors were made available by the district. After the morning bell, Tager made the announcement over the public speaker of Fernandez's sudden passing and called for a moment of silence.
Tager was particularly sensitive for the students currently in Fernandez's class, which is why he brought in a substitute known to them, Rick Wittors.
Though some media were at the high school Monday, NSBNews.net stayed out of respect for grieving students and family members there. Instead, NSBNews.net visited the campus after school and shot a video of cards students had made and focused the camera on the lowered American flag in front of the school.
Tager described Fernandez as an outstanding teacher who was "always positive 100 percent of the time."
"I never heard Fico say anything negative -- never," the principal said, adding Fernandez, a teacher there for 14 years, lived every day to the fullest.
"I never heard Fico say anything negative -- never," the principal said, adding Fernandez, a teacher there for 14 years, lived every day to the fullest.
Tager said he hopes Fernandez's death will serve as a wake-up call to those who admired him to make the most of their lives as well.
Courtesy photo / Frederick Fernandez as shown in the 2010 New Smyrna Beach High School yearbook.
A public memorial service for Frederick "Fico" Fernandez, is planned for 5 p.m. Sunday on the beach in New Smyrna Beach, near the Sapphire Road dune walkover.
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