The Bethel woman was an ed tech at the Meroby school.
HANOVER – A popular ed tech at Mexico’s Meroby Elementary School was killed Tuesday morning when her car and a Ford pickup truck collided nose-to-nose on Route 2.

The truck driver and his passenger – his brother – were injured.

“This was terrible,” said State Trooper Terry James of the crash. He said Celina Jodrey, 42, of Vernon Street in Bethel “was popular with her students” and was equally well-liked by those she coached as majorettes at Telstar High School.

Jodrey “was killed instantly” in the crash, James said. “This is hard on her family,” he added. She was the mother of two sons, 17 and 11. Her husband Michael, who was out-of-state when the crash happened, is a local fire official, the trooper said.

James said Jodrey was driving her 1994 Thunderbird on her way to work at the elementary school shortly before 7 a.m.

At the same time, Samuel Smith, 26, of Leeds, was heading to work with his brother, Matthew, who also lives in Leeds. They’re contractors working on a house not far from Sunday River Ski Resort, James said.

“Mr. Smith fell asleep at the wheel” of his 1996 Ford F250, James said. The truck drifted across Route 2 and into Jodrey’s lane about a mile and a half east of where Route 26 turns toward Grafton Notch, the trooper said.

He said that while the investigation is continuing, it didn’t appear that Jodrey attempted any evasive action. “She probably never it saw it coming,” James said.

Samuel Smith suffered a cut above one eye, and his brother suffered a cut to his hand, James said. Both required stitches to close the wounds. The men were treated at Rumford Community Hospital, he said.

James said Smith was devastated when he learned Jodrey was killed in the crash and had left behind a family. “He broke down,” he said.

The trooper said no charges have been filed in the case. The investigation remains open.