Married Teachers Die in Crash While Dropping Son Off at College, and Their 2 Younger Kids Barely Survive

Two beloved teachers in Ohio tragically died last week in a car crash while traveling to North Carolina to drop off their oldest son at college, according to authorities and local news reports.

Their two younger children survived the crash but sustained serious injuries.

On Friday, Aug. 15, around 1:18 p.m. local time, 55-year-old Donald Nunney was driving a Honda Odyssey east on Interstate 40 near Chapel Hill when the vehicle “ran off the right side of the roadway … [and] struck several small trees,” a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told PEOPLE.

The minivan “traveled down an embankment and collided with a large tree,” the spokesperson said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, and additional details have not been released.

Both Nunney and his wife, 50-year-old Maria Galindo Nunney, who was riding in the passenger seat, were killed.

A 9-year-old and a 15-year-old in the vehicle were hospitalized with serious injuries, the highway patrol spokesperson added. The family later identified them on a GoFundMe page as the Nunneys’ son Leo and daughter Lucia.

Investigators told CBS affiliate WOIO that the couple had traveled to North Carolina to take their oldest son, 19-year-old Noah, to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The crash occurred near the campus.

Maria’s brother, Sandro Galindo, told CBS affiliate WNCN that the family was on their way to lunch at the time of the accident.

Noah, who was in a separate vehicle, pulled over to the side of the highway after the crash, WOIO reported. Sgt. Tyler Tucker of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said Noah stayed by his siblings’ sides in the hospital to comfort them.

“Their entire world has changed,” Tucker told WOIO.

According to the GoFundMe page, which also supports the couple’s 18-year-old son Diego, the two youngest children are “healing from major trauma and injuries.”

Both Donald and Maria taught in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, according to WOIO, and Noah is a returning sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill.

“These four incredible kids are facing an unimaginable loss,” the GoFundMe organizers wrote. “As their family, we want to do everything we can to make sure their needs are cared for and their futures protected.”

The organizers described the couple as “amazing and loving parents” who devoted themselves to both their students and their family: “They gave so much of themselves to their students and their community.”

Their deaths occurred shortly before the first day of school at UNC, on Monday, Aug. 18.

Shari Obrenski, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, told WOIO the loss has deeply affected the school community.

“Their loss has hit everyone so hard that it is unimaginable for their family and their children,” Obrenski said. “So shocking and heartbreaking and just devastating.”

As the family and the school community grieve, loved ones are honoring the “legacy of community, family, and love” that Maria and Donald leave behind.

“That legacy will live on through Noah, Diego, Lucia, and Leo, who carry forward the very best parts of who their parents were,” the GoFundMe organizers wrote. The campaign had raised more than $128,000 as of Tuesday, Aug. 19.