ROGERS -- Dozens of messages and pictures drawn in chalk on the sidewalk outside Heritage High School on Tuesday paid tribute to a teacher believed to have been among three people found dead in a Florida house fire.
"Mrs. Allen was self-less in her love for her students," one message near the school's front door stated. "Always going above and beyond, with a shoulder to lean on and a classroom that felt like home."
Teacher Tribute
Dozens of messages were written by students Tuesday outside Heritage High School about teacher Linda Woods Allen. Here are some examples:
• You didn’t have to be her student. She still cared.
• She not only taught us history, but showed us how to make it.
• “Congrats” Last thing Ms. Allen told me after graduation followed by a hug. Rest in peace
• Never will we forget how wonderful and full of joy you always were, even during tough moments
• I will always be able to hear your music when I pass your room. We miss you already.
• Thank you for understanding when no one else did.
Source: Staff Report
Deputies with the Brevard County, Fla., Sheriff's Office said Linda Woods Allen, 38, of Bella Vista was in Malabar, Fla., visiting her sister, Chrissy Hughes, 39. The bodies of the women and Hughes' 9-year-old son, Sebastian Meachum, were discovered Sunday night after firefighters responded to a fire call at Hughes' home.
A preliminary examination of the women's bodies revealed trauma indicating they had been killed before the fire started.
Hughes' husband, Tony Hughes, 39, is missing and is a suspect in the three deaths, according to Sheriff's Office spokesman Tod Goodyear. Authorities found a boat belonging to the couple Sunday afternoon about 7 miles offshore. No one was on board.
The U.S. Coast Guard called off their search efforts by Tuesday. The Sheriff's Office was doing some searches along the beach and processing some evidence, Goodyear said.
Identification of the victims hasn't been confirmed and dental records or DNA will be needed to make that determination, Goodyear said. Fire Department officials are investigating how the blaze started.
Malabar is on Florida's east coast, about 70 miles southeast of Orlando.
The Rogers School District acknowledged media reports of Allen's death with a news release Tuesday.
"The Rogers Public Schools family is heartbroken at media reports of the death of one of its teachers, Linda Woods Allen," the release stated.
Allen has worked in the Rogers School District since 2005, first as a special education teacher and most recently as a social studies teacher at Rogers Heritage High School. She taught world history and in the past had been an adviser for the Quiz Bowl team, according to the release.
"Linda has been a strong teacher at our school since it opened in 2008," Karen Steen, Heritage High School principal, said in the release. "She was loved by students and staff and will be greatly missed by her Heritage family."
Luis Reyes, 18, graduated from Heritage last month. Allen was his Advanced Placement world history teacher during his sophomore year. Last fall semester he worked as a teacher's assistant for Allen.
Allen frequently gave him a break from his duties as a teacher's assistant if he needed to finish some of his own class work or write an essay for a college scholarship, Reyes said.
"She was super outgoing as a person and as a teacher," Reyes said. "She was a different type of teacher than anyone else at Heritage, honestly."
Allen used to kick off her Friday classes with some kind of humorous video to lighten the mood. Often it was a skit produced by popular YouTube director and comedian Julian Smith, Reyes said.
Brig Caldwell, student relations and community liaison at Heritage, has known Allen since they started at the school together in 2008. Both worked in the school's special education department when the school opened.
"Linda was always a very sweet teacher, very approachable," Caldwell said. "She was a very open, caring, concerned person."
Allen was "going through some personal challenges" that compelled her to want to take a trip to the East Coast this summer, he said.
"She had told me toward the end of the school year how she was really excited she was going to take a road trip by herself and go to the East Coast, and go to some places and just kind of try to make sense about where things were for her personally and professionally," Caldwell said.
Allen had posted to her Facebook page a quote attributed to author Kurt Vonnegut, which states: "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."
The same quote was written in chalk across the length of a wall outside Heritage High School on Tuesday.
A walkway in front of the school was decorated with numerous other messages remembering Allen, most of them apparently from former students of hers. There were drawings of flowers, a sun and Allen's car. A bouquet of flowers laid on the ground.
Counselors were available at the school Tuesday to help students and staff deal with the news about Allen, according to the district's news release.
General News on 06/21/2017