By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A PRE-DAWN school run in North Abaco ended in devastating loss on Friday when a head-on collision killed Monique Williams, a veteran pre-school teacher, and her 13-year-old nephew, Terrance Williams, shattering a tight-knit family and sending shockwaves through Treasure Cay.

Ms Williams, 53, was driving Terrance and another teenager to school along SC Bootle Highway when her vehicle collided head-on with a Ford Excursion. The American couple in the SUV were reportedly en route to a bone-fishing trip to Green Turtle Cay.

Silbert Mills, Abaco journalist and pastor, reported that the visitors had missed their turn, doubled back, but “forgot” to stay on the right side of the road. He said it was their first time in The Bahamas.

SC Bootle High School, where Terrance was an eighth-grade student, dismissed students early. The third passenger, Calsey Rolle, remains in hospital, relatives said.

The tragedy hit a family already bound tightly together.

Emmise Bootle, Ms Williams’ niece and Terrance’s cousin, said the loss was heartbreaking. Ms Williams, Terrance, his father, and another aunt all lived in the same home. Terrance was his parents’ only child.

Mrs Bootle, also a teacher at Cooper’s Town Primary, said she usually rode with her aunt and cousin every morning, talking about food, work, and the poor state of the roads.

The only reason she was not in the vehicle on Friday was because she had teacher evaluations that morning.

“Our conversations would always start off with whatever we ate for that morning,” she said.

“Just going to school, whenever teachers get together, we talk whether it was about our students, and every once in a while, she would be like, check in the back on the boys.”

She said her aunt often cracked jokes during the drive, including light-hearted comments about dodging potholes.

“Y’all see them trying to come at us on the roads,” she recalled her saying.

Ms Williams, who had no children, treated Terrance like a son.

Mrs Bootle said the two were inseparable — “even in death, I don’t think they could’ve lived without each other.”

She said Terrance adored his parents but shared a special bond with their aunt.

“My uncle would often say that she would row him out for Terrance so when he come for Terrance, Terrance would run behind her,” she said.

Terrance, she added, was quiet, creative, and thoughtful, recently asking questions about God and cooking recipes.

“He was growing into himself, asking questions about life just wanting to add to life,” she said.

Ms Williams had taught nearly 30 years and was looking forward to retirement.

“We encouraged each other in the class. I was like, ‘aunty, I don't want you to leave me. I want you to stay so we could be in this together,” she said.

She said Terrance’s father has moments of deep sadness but has been strengthened by community prayers.

“He would say how his son would come and kiss him, ‘Daddy, I love you’”, she said. “He just kept letting him know he love him and kissing up on his dad and then he would run from him and they would chase each other. His last moments, he fulfilled that task of just pouring in,” he said.

Mr Williams, reflecting on the memories, is keeping his son’s lessons about forgiveness as a keepsake. On Saturday, the grieving father found a handwritten passage in Terrance’s Religious Studies book. The boy described an incident where someone hit him with a ball. He was angry at first, but then forgave the person, realising they were acting out of hurt. The two later became best friends.

“He's a sweet child and his father, he's proud able to see that he was a good child,” Mrs Bootle said.

The Ministry of Education issued a statement offering condolences, calling Terrance a young man of extraordinary promise and Ms Williams a dedicated educator who served with passion and commitment.

SC Bootle High School posted a video of Terrance playing the drums, writing: “May you continue to beat those drums in heaven, Terrance.”

Parents were equally shaken.

Timesha Russell-Brice, a former student of Ms Williams and cousin of Terrance, said she will always remember how often the teacher told her she was proud of her. She said Ms Williams also taught her son and had recently invited her to speak to the class about community helpers.

“It breaks my heart but God knows all things, even as I stood on that scene, I had so many questions but whatever God does is well done,” she said.