Band teacher remembered fondly
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:55 AM PDT
BOISE (AP) — A Utah music teacher killed while trying to prevent the crash of a bus carrying dozens of her students was hailed as a heroine.
Heather Christensen, 33, a woodwind instructor at American Fork High School, was killed Saturday night when the bus veered from Interstate 15 and rolled south of Pocatello, where the band had won a competition hosted by Idaho State University.
Christensen, of Spanish Fork, Utah, left her seat to grab the steering wheel after seeing the bus driver slump over, students and colleagues said. She was partially ejected in the rollover, and relatives said her effort to correct the course of the bus probably kept the crash from being worse.
Christensen was the only fatality.
‘‘If it hadn’t been for her, a lot of other people would have died,’’ Christensen’s sister, Jana Hogenson told the Idaho State Journal. ‘‘For Heather, that’s exactly what we would have expected. All her spare time was spent on her students.’’
All but one of the 44 students who received care at a Pocatello hospital were released. The remaining female patient was expected to be released Monday. Idaho State Police were investigating the crash.
