Newspaper article on Uncle Terry.

[navygreen]

My Aunt Edith sent me this in email this morning:

ASU professor killed in crash

Wall High School teacher, student injured

By PAUL A. ANTHONY and ERIN QUINN, Staff writers
May 7, 2006

AUSTIN - An Angelo State University professor was killed Friday in a head-on collision in Llano County that also injured a Wall High School journalism adviser and her journalism student returning from the state UIL academic competition in Austin.

Terry John Lehmann, a longtime professor of history at the university, was driving to Austin to visit his sick father when his car veered into oncoming traffic and struck a sport-utility vehicle driven by Sarah Hessler, returning to the San Angelo area with Wall sophomore Kate Wilde.

Hessler is in guarded condition at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, with both feet and ankles shattered, said Mark Del Toro, a spokesman with the Texas Department of Public Safety office in Kerrville, which is investigating the crash. Wilde was treated overnight for broken ribs and bruises and was released from Brackenridge on Saturday.

There were no other occupants in either vehicle.

"We're pretty broken up," said John Wheeler, a close friend of Lehmann's and a fellow ASU history professor, on Saturday. "He was ... irreplaceable, and irreplaceable as a friend."

The wreck occurred about 6:30 p.m. on State Highway 71 about 10 miles west of Llano, Del Toro said. Llano is about 130 miles southeast of San Angelo and about 70 miles northwest of Austin.

Lehmann, 61, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Llano County Justice of the Peace Duane Nobles, who sent Lehmann's body for an autopsy in Austin to determine the cause of death.

"We don't know really what caused him to go into the other lane," Nobles said. "He could have fallen asleep, it could have been a heart attack, or he could have just lost control there."

Lehmann's father, who lives in Austin, recently had suffered a stroke, said ASU history department secretary Sally Turner, and Lehmann traveled there every weekend to see him.

Lehmann's wife, ASU computer science professor Twila Lehmann, was in Austin on Saturday and unavailable for comment.

Hired by ASU in 1977 and principally a teacher of geography and American history, Lehmann was remembered by several colleagues as a soft-spoken man who was well-respected by peers and students alike.

He spent hours helping students prepare for exams, Wheeler said, and in his spare time, he collected model trains - even building a room in his house that he called the "train room."

"He was a wonderful person," said Charles Endress, former head of the history department and the man who hired Lehmann to the faculty.

Word of the crash came to members of the ASU and Wall communities - in the San Angelo area and in Austin - early Saturday.

Wilde and Hessler were returning after Wilde finished fourth in a field of 12 at the Class 2A News Writing competition, part of the University Interscholastic League's annual statewide academic meet.

Hessler, 24, remained in good spirits Saturday at Brackenridge, although both her legs were in casts, and her chin sported a bruise caused by her SUV's steering wheel.

Doctors operated on both feet Friday night, Hessler said, adding that they have told her she will require at least two more surgeries and remain in the hospital at least one week.

Hessler, a former Standard-Times copy editor, said she remembers little of the collision - except that she was driving uphill outside Llano, then she was braking hard.

Wilde, 16, had sat in the back seat so she could rest more easily, Hessler said.

"I couldn't turn around, but I heard Kate whimpering in the back," she said. "I just pictured her legs looking like mine. She's just the perfect little athlete, and she's only a sophomore. ... Thank God we were in that Suburban, or neither of us would have made it."

Wilde also was on Wall's state runner-up girls basketball team this spring.

Hessler's colleagues at the academic competition described her as a hard worker - even when incapacitated.

"When I saw her," said Wall UIL computer coach Kirby Rankin, "she had the morphine pump in her hand, and she was asking us to bring her yearbook proofs to go over."

Erin Quinn reported from Austin.

© 2006, San Angelo Standard-Times. All Rights Reserved.

There's also this picture of him on the ASU website.

It seems so strange to read an article like that about someone that you know and love.

Comments

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

*BIG HUGS*

[maryjo.livejournal.com]

That's so tragic! Sorry you and your family are going through this *Hugs*

[kristchan.livejournal.com]

wow. my dad was a history major at ASU. he probably had a class with him.

[flopbrain.livejournal.com]

My condolences on your family's loss. As I learned when my cousin was killed a couple years ago, it can be strange to read about it in media reports. On one hand, you appreciate that someone noticed, and on the other hand, you're extra sensitive to exactly how things are said. Or at least that was my reaction. [hug]

[gardenmama.livejournal.com]

I'm just getting caught up on my FL and I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle :(

[taryns-mom.livejournal.com]

Very strange to read the article for me as a former ASU student. For the life of me, I can't remember who I had for history when I was a student there (circa 1981-84). And I loved American History (and actually did rather well). San Angelo and the other places mentioned feel so vivid to me right now.

It was wierd and strange to read the article on Taryn too. Much, much harder when it's someone you know and love dearly. **hugs**

[ascendinginto.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. :o(

[niecer1.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry for your loss Nicole.
((BIG HUGS!))

[sugarfoot81.livejournal.com]

(Thought this icon might cheer you up...it did me.)

Sometimes it helps to know the details of a death. At least it has helped me in the past.