Fowler school mourns loss of teacher killed in Highway 99 crash

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A beloved teacher killed in a crash on Highway 9 is being remembered.

Linda Gutierrez, 58, taught 3rd grade at Fremont Elementary School in Fowler for many years.

And in a city where the schools are all within walking distance, there is much more than sidewalks connecting them.

On Monday, it was the loss of a teacher.

"You could feel it on campus," principal Monica Sigala said. "But we made it through."

Gutierrez died on Monday, just north of the small town on Highway 99. She was driving home from the airport with a foreign exchange student when California Highway Patrol officers say Gutierrez slowed down for traffic near Clovis avenue.

A big rig, behind her hit the brakes too late, it slammed into her car and pushed it into a cement wall.

She was married and a mother of two.

"She will be missed deeply," superintendent Eric Cederquist said. "But we will never ever forget what a difference maker she had been."

She dedicated 34 years to the school and she was adored by her students. Many of them, wrote their thoughts down on paper and the teachers expressed their feelings after school.

"I've never known someone to be so committed to her teaching or her craft the giving that she would have," teacher Beth Feaver said. "Always willing to go the extra mile."

Gutierrez left a legacy.

"We can stand strong today and she would tell us to carry on," Feaver said. "Carry on and that's what we have to do today.">

It's a legacy that will be remembered by generations of students and the people she worked with.