Teacher from Riverhead dies in crash
Husband, 23-month-old daughter survive
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Jennifer Mager at her stepson's wedding in Aquebogue, just hours before she was killed.
"At this time, we're looking into the possibility that he may have nodded out," said Riverhead Detective Sgt. Joseph Loggia. "Apparently he was on his way home from working a 12-hour shift at his job out East."
Jennifer Ann Mager, 37, a veteran teacher in the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District, was seriously injured in the 11:30 p.m. crash between Route 25 and Sound Avenue. She was later pronounced dead at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.
Her husband, Thomas, 49, who was driving their 2008 Toyota, and their 23-month-old daughter, Delaney, who was in the backseat, survived the crash with non-life-threatening injuries.
The couple, who had been married for over five years, had just celebrated the wedding of Mr. Mager's son from a previous marriage at an Aquebogue vineyard, explained Ms. Mager's father, Neil Ogden of Wading River, who had been baby sitting the toddler that night.
"They picked up the baby around 11 and were on their way home," said Mr. Ogden, who described his daughter as a bubbly, beautiful person with a big heart. "I referred to her as the light of my life," he said. "That's it; the light is out. But it will go on with my granddaughter."
Meanwhile, Shoreham-Wading River district teachers and students this week were mourning the loss of a woman school officials called "a dedicated and talented teacher who endeared herself to her students, parents, faculty and staff at the entire district."
"In her time with the district, she had become a valued and important member of the Shoreham-Wading River community," school superintendent Dr. Harriet Copel said in a statement posted on the district's Web site Monday. "Her smiles, laughter, generosity, warmth and compassion will be deeply missed."
Ms. Mager had worked in the district for nine years, her father said, switching this year from teaching second grade at the Wading River elementary school to her dream job as a kindergarten teacher at Briarcliff Elementary.
"She spent so much time at the school," he said. "Her plate was always full. She pulled all-nighters her whole life. If she had a goal in mind and that's what she wanted to do to with the kids, then she went over and above.
"She would always be doing things for people," he continued. "Sometimes we would say, 'Jennifer, you're doing too much.' But you might as well have been talking to the wall. That was Jennifer's way."
He added that his daughter's husband has tried to stay strong since the crash, though when Mr. Ogden spoke Monday -- before that day's scheduled wake services -- he said he expected he and his son-in-law would have to hold each other up through the trying afternoon. "It's going to be a wreck for us," he said.
He added that his young granddaughter, who suffered a fractured leg in the crash, had been doing well. "It's almost a blessing that she's not quite 2 yet," he said. "We sort of told her mommy's in heaven and she looks up and points. So that's good."
See obituary on page 11 for additional information.
mwhite@timesreview.com
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