Lenore Brien of Rockville Centre and East Hampton died of complications of cancer at home in Rockville Centre on Jan. 11. Her family was with her. She was 73.
Known to family and close friends as Le, she was an English teacher at Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, directing the Drama Club there, and at Belmont High School in Massachusetts, where she and her family lived from 1971 to 1978.
In June of 1971 she married James Brien, who survives. When they returned to Long Island in 1978, they settled in Rockville Centre, and Ms. Brien continued teaching as a substitute in several districts.
The Briens built a house in East Hampton about 40 years ago. Ms. Brien loved going to the beach here, her husband said.
Ms. Brien was born in Brooklyn on July 21, 1947, to Angelo J. Melillo and the former Helen Terzuola. She grew up in a multigenerational family home full of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
She attended the St. Anselm Parochial School in Bay Ridge and the American Martyrs Elementary School and Mary Louis Academy in Queens. She earned a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from St. John's University in Queens in 1969 and later a master's degree in education from Adelphi University in Garden City.
In addition to her husband of nearly 50 years, Ms. Brien is survived by two sons, James Brien of St. Louis and Colin Brien of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, two grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She also leaves a sister, Diane Skay of Rockville Centre, and a brother, Mark Melillo of Apex, N.C.
Ms. Brien was a parishioner of the St. Agnes Parish in Rockville Centre, where a memorial service and celebration of Christian life will be held in the future.
