Foley taught English, public speaking, drama and literature in Binghamton schools for 42 years. Along with Serling, her students included actors Richard Deacon (best known as "Mel Cooley" on television's Dick Van Dyke Show) and John Conboy, television producer Harvey Bullock, musician and BC Pops founder David Agard, dancer and instructor Helen Yelverton and artist Robert Keller. And as another of her students, Press & Sun-Bulletin associate editor and columnist David Rossie, once observed, "For every 'name' artist she inspired, Helen touched the lives of thousands of other students. Whether it was a role in a school play, the discovery of an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem or an Edgar Allan Poe short story, there have to be legions out there who can recall a Helen Foley moment that illuminated their school days."
Indeed. And those tales will be told again when those students learn of Helen Foley's death on Friday at the age of 90.

Foley retired from teaching in 1979 but remained active in the local arts scene, supporting all manner of drama, dance and music. She also became the guiding spirit of the Rod Serling Foundation, which established a Walk of Stars to honor Broome County residents who went on to notable careers. She received her own star in 1997. The Binghamton School District named the high school auditorium (where she had directed so many plays) the Helen Foley Theater.

She also lives on in Serling's work, not just a character name in some of his tales but as the teacher who unlocked that magnificent imagination and encouraged him not just to write but to aim high.

Upon learning of her death, David Rossie said, "Helen Foley was a teacher, a friend, an inspiration. I guess the number of people who could truthfully say that would fill a good sized auditorium. Generations of Binghamton children came out of school better than they were going in because of her. You can't ask for a better testament to a teacher than that."

No, you can't.