Friends and colleagues remembered Alexander Lark, a 43-year-old Edison High School special education teacher intern and Fresno State student, as a kind-hearted educator after he was killed in a traffic accident Tuesday night.
According to the Fresno Police Department, the accident occurred when Lark attempted to cross Shaw Avenue near Jackson Avenue about 6:20 p.m. after class. The driver told police he did not see Lark.
Lark’s sudden death left friends and classmates in complete shock. Some students in his program could not even come to school.
“It’s something you didn’t want to believe,” said Fresno State student Katie Counts, a friend and study partner of Lark. “A life cut way too short, way too many dreams and aspirations left for him.”
Counts said two schools lost a mentor and supporter. Her reaction to the news was a string of emotions.
“Just instant fear, heartbreak for his family, heartbreak for his students that had to hear all of this and complete and utter shock of not wanting to hear it,” she said. “All these things that we had going, and for it all to just be taken away””it’s just unfair and unexplainable.”
Lark worked for Fresno Unified School District since 2005 and as a special education teacher intern at Edison since earlier this year. He was also a graduate student enrolled in the special education teacher credential program at Fresno State.
“He was one of the great people you never forget,” said Paul Beare, dean of the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. “One of our favorites, because he was such a great person. It’s a shame.”
He was the son of the late Dr. Alexander H. Lark, who was an education professor at Fresno State until he retired in 1994.
Counts said Lark aspired to be like his father and become a professor. People who knew Lark said he excelled working with children.
“He was amazing with his kids in his classroom,” said friend Jeni Jones. “There’s not one person that I have met, one person that has known him, that didn’t think about him the way we do.”
Counts said he loved his students and already made an impact in their lives in the short time he knew them.
“He was just so proud of them and their accomplishments,” Counts said. “He had no problem telling them that, and they accepted it and they believed it because it was coming from him.”
Friends and classmates said that Lark encouraged and guided them through school and their career paths.
“He was just an extreme motivator,” Counts said. “He helped push me through finishing school and was just an incredible friend that I know touched my life in many ways. He was just a genuine, loving, kind-hearted man.”
Counts said Lark was always willing to help people with academic issues or something happening in their personal lives.
“What I will remember most is just his support of me. He encouraged me to be myself and not care what other people think,” said Laura Slagle, a marriage family therapist intern for Fresno Unified.
Slagle attributed part of Lark’s goodwill toward students to his educational philosophy.
“I just found that he really looked at kids from a compassionate viewpoint rather than just seeing their behavior, because some of the kids we work with are really difficult behaviorally,” Slagle said.
Slagle sees his death as more than just a loss for his friends and family, but as a loss for the education profession as a whole.
“What a loss for all the kids, because we had a lot of plans in our group of like-minded friends,” she said. “We had a lot of plans of the difference we were going to make for these kids with special needs. And we were always talking about how we were going to eventually all work together to really help these kids.”