Woman, 68, dies with 3 teens in crash Old Bridge resident remembered for her love of children BY JESSICA SMITH and CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writers JEFF GRANIT staff A Freehold Borough High School student pays respects in front of a sign for Ruth MacArthur, 68, of Laurence Harbor, who was killed in an accident the prior day in Freehold Township. The accident on Kozloski Road also took the life of three Freehold Township teenagers. Many gathered at the makeshift memorials in the days following the crash. A fiery collision claimed the life of a 68-year-old Old Bridge woman along with three teenagers from Freehold Township last week. Ruth A. MacArthur, who worked as a driver transporting special-needs students for Keyport-based Unlimited Auto, was driving north on Kozloski Road in Freehold Township at 2:12 p.m. Jan. 10 with a 13-year-old passenger in the vehicle when her Dodge Caravan was struck by a Cadillac CTS containing three teens - Michael Dragonetti, 17, James Warnock, 17, and Andrew Lundy, 16. MacArthur and the teenagers in the other vehicle are all believed to have died on impact and were pronounced dead at the scene. The student MacArthur was transporting was seriously injured, but is recovering and was released from the hospital this week. The minivan driven by MacArthur was a certified school transportation vehicle owned by Unlimited Auto. "She was a wonderful person," MacArthur's grandson, Donald Aquilano, said. "She'll be missed. She'll be deeply missed." The crash occurred a short distance south of Dutch Lane Road. Kozloski Road consists of four lanes, with no divider, and has a speed limit of 50 mph. According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin, there was some indication that the Cadillac was going over the posted speed limit at the time of the accident, but officials have not been able to pinpoint an exact speed. The Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART) is investigating the accident, Valentin said. The Freehold Township Police Department and Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office are also involved in the investigation. Dragonetti, who was driving the Cadillac, had a provisional driver's license. Drivers between the ages of 17 and 21 who have a provisional license are allowed only one passenger at a time, and are restricted to driving between the hours of 5 a.m. and midnight. MacArthur lived with her husband, Robert, and two of her four children, sons Kevin and Michael, in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge. She also has a daughter, Kathleen Nuss, of Old Bridge, and a son, Patrick Cornell, of Lacey. A 30-year-plus native of Laurence Harbor, MacArthur made her career as a nurse, working at both the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in the Menlo Park section of Edison and at Bartley Manor in Jackson. Instead of retiring, MacArthur opted to work with children. "I guess she was just bored, and she loved children, so it was the perfect job for her," Aquilano said. "That's why she became a nurse: she wanted to give back. She was a very caring person, very nurturing. If she met someone, she would adopt them as her own." MacArthur's family wrote in her obituary: "Children were Ruth's life, as she was a foster child, which aided in her love for children." Services for each of the accident victims were held Monday. Friends and family gathered to say farewell to MacArthur at the Day Funeral Home in Keyport. "There were people from years ago," Aquilano said. "She was just a well-liked person." The Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home in Freehold Township handled the arrangements for Dragonetti, Warnock and Lundy. MacArthur's four children provided her with 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Every two years, the whole family would take a trip to North Carolina, and in summers the older grandkids would join their grandparents on monthly excursions to Cape May in their 38-foot trailer, Aquilano said. "That's probably all of our favorite memories - camping," Aquilano said. Freehold High School (FHS) Principal Linda Jewell made herself available at the East Freehold firehouse soon after the accident, which occurred just after school let out for the day. She also made arrangements for the school to be open that evening so that students would have a place to come together and grieve. Jewell gathered counselors from the high school and other district schools to help students in dealing with the sudden losses. "There is no way to make sense of any of this," Jewell said. "I just saw these students a little over an hour ago. These teens were everyone's best friends." Freehold Borough Councilman Kevin Kane was at the scene of the accident with his wife, Ellen, and daughter, Katie, who attends Freehold High School. Kane said he could not imagine what the parents of the teens were going through. "It is every parent's worst nightmare," Kane said. "From the age of 16 until they are out of college, you just hold your breath every time they go out the door." The fact that everyone knows one another at the high school because of its small size, Kane said, contributed to the terrible blow of the students' deaths. "There will be a tremendous void in everything they do for the rest of this year," Kane said. "Anything we can do, we'll do. This is the most horrible tragedy. There is no script for this kind of thing." Dragonetti, a senior at FHS, was the captain of the football team at the school this past fall. He was the son of Michael and Theresa Dragonetti, and a brother to Nicholas Dragonetti. When FHS football coach Mark Ciccotelli and his staff were deciding who should captain the 2006 team, Dragonetti was an easy choice for a number of reasons, Ciccotelli said. "He was a model student, a model human being," Ciccotelli said. "He was the type of kid that if you had a son, you would want him to be just like Mike. You would be a proud father." While at 185 pounds Dragonetti was small for defensive tackle standards, his size did not stop him from becoming a starter and one of the team's best linemen. "He was what high school football is all about," Ciccotelli said. "He just persevered. He had all the intangibles - work ethic, accountability, a sense of teamwork. He wasn't the fastest, strongest or biggest player, but he played hard and was there for the other guys. All the kids loved him dearly. He's going to be missed." Warnock, also a senior, was the son of James and Elizabeth Warnock. He is also survived by his brothers, Michael and Thomas, and sister, Jessica. Lundy, a junior, was the son of Theodore and Barbara Lundy. Also surviving are his sister, Brooke, and brothers, Jason and David. "He and his parents are really nice people," Lundy's guitar instructor, Andrew Lofrano, said. "It's tragic. I can only imagine what his mom is feeling. It's just crazy." Valentin stressed the importance of teaching young people about the dangers of driving at high speeds. The prosecutor's office, along with law enforcement officials, have worked to maintain vehicular safety throughout the county, Valentin said. The prosecutor offered condolences and prayers to the families, students and community. "They were all close friends, and their families were close as well," Valentin said. Students at the school honored their deceased friends with a memorial the day following the accident. One sign created by a fellow student bore the names of the three teens carved in wood, along with the word, "Remember." A memorial was also dedicated to MacArthur alongside the accident site.