"She is always a teacher," Freeman said. "My mother is very vibrant, and teaching is everything to her. "When my brother got killed, it's like somebody put that fire out in her — and recently, it got rekindled. I'm proud of her."
It wasn't just the murder that doused the flames. Two years after Michael Freeman was killed, a second son, Keegan Freeman, died in October 2008 in an auto accident at age 32.
Her co-workers watched as passion that had been rebuilding deflated once again.
"She's an excellent teacher, would do anything to help children and other people, through all the tragedies that have taken so much out of her," said Rhonda Lewis, a Cross Country teacher. "She can teach about anything — very creative, and she makes the children happy."
But the deaths, Lewis said, "took everything out of her."
Waddell acknowledges that she was not herself after her sons were killed. She is still paying off the costs of their funerals. But fellow teachers said she has been inspiring in a way that could only be fueled by grief.
"Even if Ms. Theresa had to go into the corner and cry, the kids would console her," said Paula France, a Cross Country teacher. "And when she came back to the front of the classroom, she would turn it into a lesson, and teach them about depression and signs to look for.
"She uses her best and worst experiences to teach her students."
Waddell also uses her experience to reach out to the families of students. She asks parents to make sure that their kids come to school well-fed and tells them, "We're in this together."
And she gravitates toward the most troubled students.
"The kids who come to school, who pee in the bed or aren't dressed as nice as the other kids, those are the kids I take under my wing," she said.
George Washington Principal Amanda Rice, a former administrator at Cross Country, where Waddell taught until last year, said it was the teacher's trials and triumphs that inspired the principal to recruit her.
Rice calls Waddell "one of the best teachers that I have ever come across in my career. Knowing about her personal trials and the loss of her two sons touches my heart."
The fall remains a hard time. The first two months of each school year kindle bitter reminders that her two sons are gone, one at the hands of a child she tried to help. But it is also a time marked with the sweet laughter and wide eyes, she said, of those who still have a chance.
When asked what message she would send to fellow teachers starting the school year, Waddell referenced the cardinal rule of education.
"Just don't give up on them," she said. "Please."
