Plant High Teacher Dies in Traffic Accident

Grief counselors will be at Plant High Monday to help students deal with the loss of their teacher.  A Tampa high school teacher and her husband are being remembered after they died in a traffic accident.

Nancy Farnsworth taught math at Plant High School in South Tampa. She and her husband, Webster, were killed Friday when a truck slammed into their minivan at the intersection of Hillsborough and Habana.

“You couldn’t ask for a better person. She just…I’m going to miss her,” said her friend and next door neighbor, Donna Erickson.

Erickson said Nancy was always there for her and describes her as hard-working and spiritual.

“I saw the picture of the van and I got angry. How can this happen, senselessly, with two innocent people?” she said.

Tampa police say the driver of the truck, Eric McNeil, for some reason lost consciousness behind the wheel, hit two signs, ran the red light and slammed into the Farnsworth’s minivan. Nancy’s brother-in-law, Bob Diehl, said the family was told the couple died instantly.  The Farnsworth’s 3-year-old granddaughter was also in the van at the time. She was taken to the hospital with critical injuries.

Diehl said the Farnsworths were supposed to be going to a baby shower Saturday for the upcoming birth of their newest grandchild. He says the family is “all numb.”

Diehl also described Nancy as a “phenomenal teacher.”  One of her students, Reid Donaldson, had her last year and said she would make him and other students sing songs to remember things in algebra class. “She was just really nice. Always energetic and happy. Never saw her down. She was always smiling. Really good teacher,” he said.

Diehl said the Farnsworth’s granddaughter is in stable condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She is on a ventilator and feeding tube,  but it looks like she’s coming through well.

— Via 10News