Paul Long When people remember Paul Long, they rarely recall just one man. With Long came his wife and son—they were a package deal. They were inseparable.

Long, who was an English teacher at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, was one of the 25 people who died in the horrific Metrolink crash last Friday. He was riding home from his mother's out-of-state funeral with his wife, Karen, and 16year-old son, Devin. They both survived.

"It's really heartbreaking when we think about it," said friend Diane Crittenden. "They were almost never separate. They were all best friends. This is probably the first time they've ever been apart."

Long, 54, also served as a pastor at Moorpark's Life Spring Community Church and was a teacher for 18 years at Grace Brethren Junior/Senior High School in Simi Valley.

Dennis Deutsch, Grace Brethren's vice principal, recalled Long's relationship with his family.

"They were super close—literally best friends," he said. "It was unbelievable to see a family so tight-knit. But he's in a better place. His wife told me that two days after the crash. Paul's where he's wanted to be, and that's a blessing, even though it's a tragedy."

After the crash, Karen and Devin Long were taken to Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital. Devin was released, but his mother was kept in Pasadena with a punctured lung. Devin was forced to leave her behind to go to County-USC to be with his father in his final moments.

"It was horrendous and amazing," Crittenden said. "There were all these people from church and from Oaks Christian. We marched into USC, and they thought we were trying to do a takedown or something. . . . And when Devin had to leave his mom and be the next-of-kin for his dad, it was a horrific experience. He did an amazing job, but no child should have to step into a man's shoes like that."

Tony Amatangelo, who pastored with Long at Life Spring, mourned the loss of his friend at a prayer service in Simi Valley last Sunday.

"This isn't the first tragedy to hit this community," Amatangelo said. "But this one was different for me because this one hit home. Paul was someone I trusted, someone I shared with. He was someone who we watched raise their son, and they were there for us when we went through a very difficult period."

Long had worked at Life Spring for six years.

"He was a very gentle man, very softspoken," said Crittenden, a longtime member of Life Spring. "He made silly puns, and we'd all groan after he made them. He was known for that. . . . He always carried his backpack with him, filled with folders of English papers to correct."

Children in Jennifer Morgan's Sunday School class at Life Spring wrote down what they loved about Long.

"He was always being positive instead of negative," said one note written by Sergio Barrates.

"You are a great teacher. I will miss you Pastor Paul," wrote a girl named Jasmine.

Long came to Oaks Christian from Grace Brethren two years ago. At Grace Brethren he taught algebra and English and served as a guidance counselor. He began his tenure at the Simi school, which now has more than 400 students, when there were only 30 pupils.

"As a small school, whatever we needed, he did," Deutsch said. "I worked with him for eight years, and I enjoyed him tremendously. He was silly and zany and loved the students.

"No matter what he was teaching, his heart foremost was for Christ."

All three of Priscilla Slaven's children had Long as a teacher in Simi Valley.

"I must have had 30 or 40 parent-teacher conferences with him," Slaven said. "He was a strict teacher, but he was very fair with kids. I can venture to say he was one of their favorite teachers."

Matt Slaven, 24, agreed.

"He was probably the most influential teacher as far as, what I learned from him I carried more than others, probably because he was so good at communicating with us," Slaven said. "In a weird way, he was stern, but he would still goof around with us."

Slaven remembers Long loaning him his bass guitar until he'd saved enough money to buy his own. He also recalled a time when he and some other students set their desks on their sides before Long entered the classroom in an effort to get him fired up.

"He just walked in and began the lesson," Slaven said, laughing. "He didn't laugh or make fun of us, just went about his business. We had to take notes sitting sideways. I ran into him a year ago; we were just cracking up about it."

Although he had only been there for a year and a half, Long touched many at Oaks Christian as well. Headmaster Jeff Woodcock and spiritual life adviser Jim Lee were among several men who stayed in the hospital overnight Sept. 12, hoping for a miraculous recovery.

Long died the next day.

"It's not only been hard on the kids, it's been hard on the faculty to lose somebody they held in such high regard," Woodcock said. "From a teacher standpoint, he was great. I got an e-mail from a student he had 25 years ago talking about how much he impacted him. It just shows how much he's affected so many people. He's going to be deeply, deeply missed."

The school issued a statement this week:

"Oaks Christian School is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our beloved teachers, Paul Long. Paul was an extraordinary man whose passion for teaching, love for students, and deep faith inspired us all. Our prayers and thoughts are with the Long family."

Donations are being accepted for the Long family. Checks can be made out to The Paul Long Memorial Fund c/o OCS, and mailed to Oaks Christian School, 31749 La Tienda Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91362.