BETHEL, Ohio -- For teacher and coach Bob Moler, Bethel-Tate High School was a second home.
His 39-year tenure there included stints teaching driver’s education, history and government, and his picture still hangs in its halls. School board president David Brannock said Thursday night that his presence made a lasting impression on thousands of students.
“He was also just a friend,” Brannock added. “He was a friend to everyone he taught.”
Even a full day after his death, it seemed impossible that he could be gone.
Moler, 83, died in a single-vehicle crash that also killed his son, 33-year-old Nicholas Moler, and his 10-year-old grandson, Cameron Moler. The trio died when their car veered off Bethel new Hope Road and struck a tree.
Police said alcohol and speed were suspected contributors to the crash. Neither of the adults had been wearing a seatbelt.
“It was almost surreal,” said Brannock, who led a moment of silence at Thursday’s school board meeting in the Moler family’s honor. “I called my brother. ‘Coach Moler’s gone.’ It’s like, that doesn’t seem possible.”
