‘She was a light for everybody’: Family and friends remember Amy Nadolny

MIDDLEBORO — Family members, longtime friends and past high school classmates of Amy Nadolny shared joyous memories and remembered the longtime Middleboro resident and mother of two at a vigil, Saturday, Oct. 4.

Amy Nadolny, 41, of Middleboro had been missing for two weeks until her body was identified near the train tracks behind Main Street in Wareham on Sept. 19, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office.

More than two weeks since Nadolny was found, officials are yet to release the circumstances of her death. 

Longtime friends of Nadolny, Shannon Smith and Kendra Leary, said they organized the vigil to remember her as the “light for everybody” she was.

“She loved music, her family, her friends and she loved her children,” said Patty Gofy, Nadolny’s sister. “I don't think anybody that met her will ever forget her. She was a light.”

She is survived by her two sons Joshua Veary, 7, Kaiden Machado, 20, and granddaughter Amelia Charlton Machado.

Nadolny’s youngest son, Joshua, lit the first candle and passed the flame to candles held by more than 50 people that were in attendance Saturday.

“I feel bad for her kids. Her oldest son, Kaiden, has a baby so she's a grandmother, and her youngest son, Joshua, only got to spend a little bit of time with her,” Smith said.

Friends and family of Nadolny spoke of the support she gave to others, and her ability to “light up any room” with her high energy character and positive attitude.

Smith, who’s been friends with Nadolny since she was three-years-old, said that she wants people to remember Nadolny for the joy and support she brought to everyone she could.

“I've never known anybody with a heart like her,” Smith said.

Leary also said Nadolny’s care for other people has always shined in her character.

“People don’t realize how much Amy was there for people in her life,” Leary said during the vigil. “Amy was my friend and she was always there for me.” 

The vigil was held at the South Middleboro School on Wareham Street, shortly after sunset. 

Nadolny and Smith attended the school as elementary students for a year before it was later closed. Smith said she can remember how Nadolny would love skipping through the playground during recess.

Smith said her fondest memory of her close friend is from the last day of school in their senior year at Middleboro High School.

“On our last day of senior year, she begged me to drive around the school to ‘blast’ ‘Schools Out’ and ‘Another One Bites The Dust.’ Kids in the school were saying that the vibrations were literally rattling the lockers and there’s Amy hanging out the window — yelling and singing,” said Smith during the vigil.

Smith then played “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen on a speaker for the crowd. Members of the audience swayed and quietly sang along as the song played.

Smith said that five days before Nadolny went missing on Sept. 7, she asked numerous friends if they could help with yardwork at her father’s residence. Smith’s father was recently diagnosed with cancer, and she said Nadolny was the only person who reached out to help.

“She was the only one that hit me up. The stuff that she was going through at the time, clearly, was a lot more than what I was going through — and she still hit me up. She said, ‘I'll come’ and I wish to God I had responded. That was the weekend she went missing,” Smith said.

“That's the kind of person she was,” Smith added.

Gofy said her sister “would give the shirt off her back” to anyone who needed help. Nadolny wouldn’t hesitate to help when Gofy needed a friend to rely on. She would often tell Gofy in the hardest of times, “you got this girl.”

The vigil closed with Nadolny's sister, Tracy Duguay, singing, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Attendees then took turns dousing their candles in a water bucket, so they could keep their candles intact and take them home as a token to remember their friend and family member.

Gofy said her sister was both generous and understanding while she gave support to those who needed it.

“She just would look at you like a human being, and give everything that she had to give,” Gofy said.