Linda Moyer was a veteran English teacher known for pushing her Pequea Valley High School seniors to their full potential whether they were heading to college or not.

Colleagues remember the 59-year-old woman's tough exterior — she was battling cancer but vowed to get back to the classroom next month — and knew she had a softer side, too.

And Brianna Lasure, only 29 and a few years into her teaching career, had already established strong bonds with her students.

At lunchtime, many of them would crowd into her classroom to talk not only about school projects but family and relationship issues as well.

The untimely deaths of the two beloved instructors within three days last week — Moyer died of cancer and Lasure was killed in a Thanksgiving Day car accident — have stunned faculty and students alike.

"The atmosphere among students is total devastation and shock," said high school Principal Jason Marin, who was notified of Lasure's death Thanksgiving night.

"I literally went from standing to on my knees. It was something that I just could not comprehend at first," Marin said.

Separate funeral services were being held today.

When students return to classes Tuesday after the holiday break, grief counselors will be available for students who need to talk about the deaths of their teachers.

Some have already placed flowers, cards and poems at the front door.

Moyer, a Strasburg resident who taught reading and English at the high school for more than 33 years, died last Monday after being diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. Many faculty members remember her as a mentor.

"She was the stable force. She was kind, motherly, stoic," said Julia Harris, who teaches family and consumer science at the high school and benefited from Moyer's guidance when she started at Pequea Valley.

"She always knew the answer or would get it for you," Harris remembers. "She was the foundation. You just felt like she was Pequea Valley."

Ginny Kuklewski, the high school's library media specialist, knew Moyer for more than 20 years.

"She was the kind of lady who was very tough on the outside but awesome on the inside," Kuklewski said. "She worked really well with all kinds of kids — whether they were the college prep, pushing them to do their absolute best to get them ready for college, or the non-academic student; she would never let them say, 'I can't do that,' and pushed them on.

"She never gave up on those kids," she said.

Moyer did not teach this year, but insisted to her fellow teachers that she would be back. "She had hoped to come back in January. Up until probably the last month, she kept saying, 'I'm coming back in January,'" Kuklewski said.

Moyer was chairwoman of the English Department and had been the junior class adviser for 25 years. Days before her death, a group of about 10 students visited her at home and raked her leaves.

"We kept saying, 'What can we do to help you?' She kept saying, 'Nothing,' and finally she asked for something and it was to rake her leaves," Kuklewski said.

Lasure, of Akron, taught computer science and was a cheerleading coach at Pequea Valley High School. The Stoystown native was in only her third year of teaching at Pequea Valley and had quickly made connections with her students.

Lasure died of injuries she sustained in a Thanksgiving Day vehicle accident on Route 30 in Bedford County, near Somerset, according to The Tribune-Democrat newspaper of Johnstown.

Lasure was traveling to her family's home in Stoystown when she apparently lost control of her 2002 Honda Civic on a curve. Her car crossed the center line sideways and was struck by a Ford pickup truck just after noon. She was pronounced dead at 1:29 p.m. Thursday. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the upper torso.

Lasure was a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and had taught at Pequea Valley since 2006.

Kendall Hogg, a 2008 grad who is now a freshman at Messiah College, was very good friends with Lasure.

"She was just so easygoing," Hogg said. "She was understanding of every situation you could be in. It was so easy to go talk to her about problems you were having in classes and relationships.

During her junior year and Pequea Valley, Hogg began eating lunch with Lasure to talk about schoolwork. By the following year, the two were eating lunch together every day.

"She was one of the only teachers who would sit down and be your friend," Hogg said. "By the end of my senior year, there was a whole group of us going to her room for lunch. We would talk about everything — our family situations, the different problems we were having with our friends. She was amazing."

Before Hogg began college, Lasure invited her to lunch one more time. "She gave me a few gifts she thought would be helpful for college," Hogg said. "And she would text me ever day to see how I was doing."

Many of Lasure's students have posted comments on special Facebook pages dedicated to the former teacher. "She was a good teacher and always care about her students. Second floor hallway will never be the same without you Lasure," wrote one student.

"She was such a cool teacher and person," wrote another.

"Ms. Lasure will surely be missed by many! she was a fantastic teacher and impacted a lot of people. She was the best fun loving caring and creative person i knew. The upstairs hallway will never be the same with her," said one student.

Harris, the family and consumer science teacher, said Lasure will be remembered for her outgoing personality and dedication to students.

"Brianna took students who might not have had the encouragement at home and made it her personal obligation to make it so they were college-bound, made sure they filled out the paperwork," Harris said. "That was just the way she was. She took the needy child and said, 'I'm going to make sure this kid gets every opportunity.'"


Staff writer Tom Murse can be reached at tmurse@LNPnews.com or 481-6021.