Lisa Downey seemed destined for a career in teaching and coaching before she was out of grade school.
“They were always playing games,” Darlene (McCloskey) Kolpasky said of the Downey family, her Roseville neighbors. “Her dad was a big sports guy.”
The Downey backyard was the scene of football and other games; when it rained, the kids played in the basem*nt, said Kolpasky, a classmate of Lisa’s from elementary school through graduation from Bishop Gallagher High.
After high school, Kolpasky remembered, Downey worked in a bank.
“She didn’t like it,” the Troy resident said.
Banking’s loss was a gain for young students and athletes.
Downey went on to distinguished L’Anse Creuse High School teaching and coaching careers that were cut short Wednesday when the 60-year-old died of a swiftly spreading cancer.
Kolpasky was emotional when talking about her friend Thursday.
“You think you’ll always have time to get together again, and you don’t,” she said. “A flood of memories come back.”
Teri Benavides, a colleague in the social studies department at L’Anse Creuse, said Downey’s death was a “gut punch.”
“It’s devastating to the staff here,” she said. “She really is the heart of our school.”
“There are a lot of people struggling,” added Don Roda, a L’Anse Creuse teacher and coach.
The Downey and McCloskey families carpooled to take the youngsters to grade school.
Kolpasky has vivid memories of laughter and good times, and she cherishes the day a couple years ago when she and Downey reconnected.
“Lisa’s spirit was unstoppable,” Kolpasky said. “She was from a great family and a loving home.
“I can hear her voice. She had an energy that doesn’t come around very often.”
Even as a youth, Downey had a knack for teaching, Kolpasky said.
“I wasn’t the athlete that Lisa and her brother were, but she always encouraged me,” Kolpasky said. “It was no surprise that she helped young athletes reach their potential. She was the same with everybody. She would engage with people. She was always connecting.”
Downey’s softball teams won more than 400 games and eight Macomb Area Conference division championships. She posted more than 200 victories as the basketball coach at Chippewa Valley and L’Anse Creuse.
Downey was inducted into the Macomb County Coaches Hall of Fame in 2021.
“Sports was always the focal point in my family, along with school,” Downey said after being named to the ‘hall.’ “My dad was a sports fanatic, and my family was either playing or watching sports every minute of every day.
“I loved to compete and loved being part of a team.”
An economics teacher, Downey immersed herself in activities at L’Anse Creuse, Roda said.
“She served as emcee for pep rallies, she was the grand marshal of the homecoming parade,” he said. “I remember that she was always encouraging kids to play sports and get into other activities. She thought it was good for them to be involved. She really cared about the kids.”
Colleagues voted Downey the Teacher of the Year for LCHS in 2020.
“That was the COVID year, so you can imagine how difficult it was for everyone, but Downey – everyone called her Downey – kept things going,” Benavides said. “She looked out for everyone. She had everyone’s back. She was our ‘constant.’”
Downey was always among the first to welcome new teachers to the school, assistant basketball coach Dave Kuznia said.
“Nobody brought more positive school spirit on a daily basis,” Kuznia said. “Everyone knew her because she reached out to everyone. She was probably the most positive influence we had in the building.”
Mary Knechtges coached L’Anse Creuse to the state Class B basketball championship in 1978. She later served as an assistant coach with Downey, and after that she kept scorebooks for Downey’s basketball and softball teams.
“She knew basketball and softball inside out,” Knechtges said. “I always admired her knowledge.”
Knechtges was among the adults who met with Downey’s softball team following news of the coach’s death.
“They said, ‘Coach would want us to play and do the best we can,’” Knechtges said.
Downey’s survivors include her mother, Mary; sister, Kathy (Sal) Presti, and brother, Mike (Dori) Downey. She has five nieces and nephews.
Visitation is from 3-9 p.m. Saturday and 2-8 p.m. Sunday at Wujek-Calcaterra & Sons, 36900 Schoenherr Rd, Sterling Heights. A funeral Mass begins at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Paul of Tarsus Catholic Church, 41300 Romeo Plank Rd, Clinton Township. Burial will be at Resurrection Cemetery, Clinton Township.
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