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Hernando Today

Beloved Teen Dies Day After Crash

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: September 26, 2008

WEEKI WACHEE - A Central High School student died Thursday morning, a day after she was involved in a brutal head-on collision on Hexam Road.

Jenna Marie Moran was 16.

Word spread quickly at Moran's school and by Thursday afternoon a crowd of weeping classmates had gathered on the lawn of her home in the Heather.

Her older sisters, Carissa Moran and Lindsay Ingeneri, described their sibling as a fun-loving girl who was wise beyond her years.

"Everyone called her their little sister," Ingeneri said.

Moran was returning home from classes around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday when an eastbound pickup crossed the center line and struck Moran's Nissan Maxima head-on, according to the Florida Highway Patrol and friends.

The pickup rolled over two times and came to rest upright. The Maxima was spun counterclockwise.

Both the pickup's driver, William Brooks Jr., 37, of Brooksville and Moran were flown by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital, where Moran later died. Brooks was initially listed in serious condition, but there was no update available on Thursday.

Students at Central High School spent the day absorbing the loss, with the district's Care Team of counselors and specialists dispatched to the school in the morning to help students cope.

Teachers and staff were also briefed on the loss immediately, said the school's principal, Dennis McGeehan.

"Jenna had a large number of friends she touched over the years," McGeehan said. "They all talked about how positive and well-liked she was."

Moran followed in her sisters' footsteps and joined the cheerleading squad last year. Growing up, she mimicked her sisters and usually learned the dance routines before they did, Carissa Moran recalled.

Moran had a serious side, but she wasn't afraid to pop in a Disney sing-a-long movie either. She wasn't satisfied until everyone was singing with her.

Her "dorky" laugh was delivered with eyes closed and a tilted hand held upright. Friends can see any picture of her and know she's laughing by that pose.

She was growing up, though. Moran's passion for helping people led her to enroll in the nursing program at her high school. She dropped out of cheerleading to focus on her studies and in just a semester improved her grades enough to make the honor roll.

Her older sisters came to her for advice. When Ingeneri became pregnant seven months ago, it was Moran who kept a level head and convinced her sister that this was a blessing.

Ingeneri is having a girl.

Her name will be Jenna.

Reporter Linnea Brown and Tribune researcher Melanie Coon contributed to this report. Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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