Living in LoCo correspondent Val Cavalheri writes about the South Riding area and has this dispatch for us.

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Freedom H.S. Teacher Dies From Cancer
Freedom's Olsen Dies at 38

Choking back tears, Brian Olsen thanked the more than 800 people who braved the icy weather to attend his brother’s Eric’s funeral in Gainesville. Eric’s death from cancer on Sunday saddened the community and Freedom High School.

Directing his comments to the hundreds of teenagers who gathered to honor Eric, 38, their teacher and coach, Olsen recalled the pride Eric felt in hearing about their accomplishments, despite the severe pain he had experienced in the past couple of months.

Even on the day the family found out about the return of his cancer, “My brother could only think about his daughter’s homecoming and the big cross-country event. That was him, always thinking about someone else,” Olsen said.

Today, though, was all about Eric.

With a single bagpiper playing in the background, the students, dressed in their lacrosse and cross-country uniforms, followed the casket and the immediate family into the church. There was no mistaking their importance to Eric’s life, as they all sat behind the family.

Brian Olsen spoke about his older brother, remembering and sharing stories of their lives growing up and the love Eric shared with his “wife and best friend, Ashley” and their children, Claire and William. After the mass was over, the bagpiper, in his kilt, stood in the corner playing, while the procession filed out.

At a reception for family and friends after the funeral, Eric’s parents, brothers, sisters, wife and children greeted each teen with a hug. Many of the students held each other crying quietly and already missing someone who had made such an impact on their lives.