Schools mourn teacher killed in wreck

Teachers and staff at two schools in Rustburg on Monday mourned the loss of a Spanish teacher who died in a car crash Sunday evening.

Hermione Joy Stickle-Wommack, 62, of Evington, died after her sport-utility vehicle was hit head-on by a car coming in the opposite direction in a no-passing zone on Leesville Road, police said.

Stickle-Wommack taught Spanish at Rustburg Middle School and Rustburg High School. She also had taught for many years at Forest Middle School.

Rustburg Middle School Principal Richard Burge remembered Stickle-Wommack on Monday as an often-smiling Spanish teacher who loved helping others practice conversation skills.

“She would speak to me in Spanish,” said Burge, “and I would try to respond.”

Stickle-Wommack helped grow the popularity of Spanish at school in just a few years, according to Burge.

In 2007, when she started teaching at the school, Rustburg Middle had three periods of Spanish classes. Now the school has four classes that are “bursting at the seams” Burge said.

She also taught two classes at Rustburg High School and had previously taught at Forest Middle School in Bedford County, Burge said. During the summer, she traveled to Argentina to teach English there.

Burge said he and others at the school still are reeling from the news of her death.

“The students were the ones I think this was the hardest on,” Burge said, adding that guidance counselors sat in on her former classes Monday.

The accident happened at about 7 p.m. Sunday evening on Leesville Road, just south of Virginia 24.

Two vehicles — a 2010 Honda Odyssey and a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Mark B. Elliott, 34, of Lynch Station — were driving north on Leesville Road when the Mitsubishi started to pass the Honda in a no-passing zone, police said.

Elliott’s Mitsubishi hit a Stickle-Wommack’s southbound 2005 Honda CRV head-on, police said.

The impact forced the Mitsubishi back into the northbound lane, where it hit the Honda Odyssey.

Stickle-Wommack was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital, where she died, according to a Virginia State Police news release. Elliot, the only person in the Mitsubishi, also was taken to the hospital. His injuries are considered life threatening.

The Honda Odyssey had five occupants. An 8-year-old boy was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital and treated for minor injuries, the release said.

Police are still investigating and said charges are pending.

Authorities believe that alcohol was a factor in the crash, police said.

Elliott was the only person in the Mitsubishi.

The Honda Odyssey had five occupants. An 8-year-old boy in the Odyssey was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital and treated for minor injuries, the release said.

Police are still investigating and said charges are pending.

Authorities believe that alcohol was a factor in the crash, police said.

Stickle-Wommack is listed on the Rustburg Middle School Web site as an eighth-grade Spanish teacher.

Staff writer Jessie Pounds contributed.