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Crash Kills Parents, Orphans 5

TIMES STAFF WRITER

An out-of-control big rig flipped over and flattened the front of a passenger van in Ontario during the Thursday morning commute, killing a pastor and his wife in the front seat and leaving their five young children in the back orphaned.

Timothy J. Wilson Sr. and his wife, Tammy, had been driving to his accounting job in Chino--their children buckled into the seats behind them--when the big rig swerved toward them at the bottom of the 4th Street offramp on the San Bernardino Freeway.

The children heard their mother scream--and then saw one of the rig’s two trailers upend and smash into the family van, said California Highway Patrol officers.

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The impact crumpled the front of the Wilsons’ Crown Plymouth Voyager, killing both parents instantly.

As witnesses rushed to help, 10-year-old Timothy Jr. motioned them back and kicked at the van’s cracked rear window, punching a hole big enough for him and his four younger sisters to scramble to safety.

“They handled the thing about as bravely as anyone I’ve ever seen,” CHP Officer Bill Jones said.

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Nine-year-old Tamira suffered a cut and scratches on her forehead. The other children escaped injury--but were in shock. The youngest, Tracie, is 2; the Wilsons also had a first-grader, Taryn, and a 4-year-old, Trina.

“The youngest ones probably don’t realize that daddy won’t be tucking them in tonight,” said Mark Wilson, their uncle. “This is really hard.”

The youngest child’s juice cup lay in the back of the wrecked van as CHP officers began investigating. So did the older children’s school satchels. Their mother had been planning to drive them to their classrooms at Dona Merced Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga after dropping her husband off at work.

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Immediately after the crash, Tim Jr. and his four sisters demanded to see their parents and struggled to get close to the twisted wreck of their van.

To distract them, officers took them to a nearby fast-food restaurant, fed them hamburgers and then brought them to the Ontario police station.

While her brother and sisters were watching television at the station, Tamira was taken to a hospital and treated for her cut. Physically, she was fine. But “emotionally, I’m not sure how she’s going to be,” her uncle said. “She saw the whole thing. She saw her mommy and daddy die.”

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The children are staying with their paternal grandparents in Lakewood. Several aunts and uncles live nearby and are helping to care for them. Weeping, their maternal grandmother, Lois Schell, told television reporters that she was worried about the children’s future. “I just don’t know what to do,” Schell said. “I don’t think anybody has a home big enough for five kids.”

The accident occurred at 7:25 a.m. when truck driver Larry Merlin Woods left the freeway at 4th Street.

Witnesses told the CHP that Woods, who was hauling two trailers of firewood, failed to slow down as he reached the end of the offramp and prepared to turn right. The first trailer flipped and landed squarely atop the front seat of the Wilson family’s van, which had been stopped at a red light on 4th Street.

“The parents saw it coming and were just stuck. They couldn’t react,” Jones said.

The driver of the big rig tested negative for alcohol and his blood has been drawn for drug testing. Executives at his company, SMDS Trucking Inc. in Upland, declined to comment on the accident. Woods suffered cuts in the crash and was being treated at San Antonio Community Hospital.

Both the big rig and the van have been impounded for further investigation. The investigation closed 4th Street for most of the day and slowed traffic through midafternoon on eastbound Interstate 10.

The tragedy came just as the Wilsons were celebrating several milestones.

Timothy Wilson would have turned 37 next Thursday. His wife had celebrated her 36th birthday last week. The congregation they founded had just marked its first anniversary. And the couple had invited their relatives to a Mother’s Day bash this weekend--at the big new rented house they had just moved into.

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The new house gave them more room--a priority for the Wilsons, who both relished their big family. “If he could have afforded it, he would have kept on having children,” Mark Wilson said.

Indeed, Timothy Wilson told his boss that he had long ago determined to put children above wealth in his life. Tammy did not work outside the home, so the couple raised all five children on one income. They lived modestly--a trip to McDonald’s was a big treat--but did everything together, as a family.

“They were real good models, especially in the kind of society we live in today,” said Ernest Taylor, the owner of the M&M; Printed Bag company, where Wilson worked as the controller. “Their lives pivoted around family and children.”

And also, it seems, around religion and education.

Timothy Wilson founded the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship and somehow found the time to personally minister to the two dozen congregants. He also served on the school board in Rancho Cucamonga, where he pushed for smaller class sizes--and swapped stories with other parents about the joys and sorrows of raising a family.

“He was a strong advocate for all kids,” board President Diane Garner said. “He took great pleasure in his children and that was very evident.”

Though she held no elected post, Tammy Wilson volunteered with the PTA. And both Wilsons helped their older children’s soccer teams.

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They did not try to hide it--they were proud of their kids. And teachers said Thursday that they had reason to be: Tim Jr. is a math whiz just like his dad; Tamira is a sweet-natured mothering type; and Taryn, the first-grader, is an artistic child now delighting in learning to write.

In recent days, the Wilsons had brought their children to a photo studio for a family portrait. It had not yet been developed.

The school district has brought in crisis counselors for students at Dona Merced Elementary, Supt. Sonja Yates said. The district is also collecting checks for the children at 10601 Church St., Suite 112, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730.

Two other trust funds have been set up as well. One is at California Federal Bank, 160 W. Foothill Blvd., Upland, CA 91786. SMDS Trucking Inc. has also established a fund: P.O. Box 5019, Dept. 321, Upland, CA 91785.

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