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A Long Island mom who lost her FDNY husband wept at a recent Islanders game when the team and Tunnel To Towers touchingly revealed they paid off her mortgage and were covering her twins’ college tuition.
“The mortgage alone is life-changing,” said Hope McHale, 57, of Manhasset to The Post.
“The college thing is, I mean — there are no words,” she added. “There’s so much pressure off.”
McHale lost her husband, Fire Marshal Martin “Woody” McHale, on Christmas Eve 2012 when he suffered a heart attack while driving home and crashed into a neighbor’s house after a shift.
The dad, also a 9/11 responder who helped work the Ground Zero morgue, passed away when their two boys, Manhasset High School seniors Matthew and Ryan, were under 4 years old.
“Woody and I struggled to have children, and we had children late in life,” said McHale, now a single mom.
“They were definitely his prized possession – and [their birth] was definitely his proudest moment. He was just so happy to be a dad. He was such a good dad to my children.”
After her husband’s death, McHale and the kids moved from Bayside, Queens, to Long Island in 2014, fulfilling Woody’s last wish.
“This is a place that he wanted to raise our family,” said McHale, who works in sales for Ralph Lauren.
Woody was also honored at the Long Island hockey team’s Oct. 10 game against the Lightning by having his face light up the Jumbotron at UBS Arena, to the roar of thousands.
McHale and her boys were treated like Islanders royalty at the event and spent the evening in the owner’s suite along with team co-owner Jon Ledecky, who was emotional in helping the deserving mom.
“Here’s somebody making their way through life, and now they get this big assist,” Ledecky told The Post.
“And to put that love to work by raising these two kids alone as a single mom, it’s pretty incredible. … They’re terrific kids who are going to have great careers.”
Matthew has already been accepted to the prestigious flight school Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, while Ryan is interested in Fairfield University in Connecticut, where Ledecky has already put in a good word with his contacts.
The Islanders also raised $34,000 in 50-50 raffle proceeds for Tunnel to Towers that evening.
“I felt kind of like it was a hat trick,” the owner said, referring to all the goodwill.