Laguna Mourns Two Students

During one of the last weeks of the school year -- normally a fun-packed stretch of banquets, assemblies and a prom -- Laguna Beach High School is instead mourning the deaths of two students, both sons of teachers at the close-knit campus.

Sophomore Mark Tiner and junior Maxwell Sadler were killed in a Friday night car accident in Dana Point.

Grief enveloped their school Tuesday, the first day of classes after the Memorial Day weekend, as students and staff members expressed dual emotions -- sorrow for the loss of two popular students and empathy for the teachers who had lost their sons.

Notes taped to a fence near a campus memorial expressed regret over the families’ pain nearly as much as over the boys’ deaths themselves.

“It’s hardly comprehensible” that so much tragedy could strike at once, said Principal Nancy Blade.

“There isn’t a student or teacher at this school who isn’t deeply affected.”

Mark’s father, Peter Tiner, has taught art at the school for nearly 15 years, and his mother, Eleanor Tiner, is an instructional aide.

Maxwell’s mother, Carolen Sadler, teaches history and yearbook, and his younger brother, Brooke, is a freshman.

Blade met with teachers Tuesday morning, then visited each class with a counselor to talk to students.

Classmates were both sad and reflective, she said, especially in the rooms where the boys would have been in class.

“Their seats are so conspicuously empty,” Blade said.

The school observed a moment of silence in the morning, and students were urged to write letters to the boys’ parents recounting their memories of them.

During a break, a freshman ran to the campus memorial to affix notes from her math classmates.

“Something like this affects us more personally because everyone knows everyone here,” said Brittany Wall, 15. “Even if you didn’t know the boys as well, everyone has had Mr. Tiner or Mrs. Sadler as a teacher.”

At the request of the boys’ families, scheduled campus events such as the honors convocation and prom will go forward. The U.S. flag outside the school was lowered to half-staff, and staff and students have been invited a memorial service at 3 p.m. Friday at Laguna Beach Presbyterian Church.

The crash happened about 8:30 p.m. as the boys headed to Mark’s Laguna Niguel house to watch a movie.

Maxwell was driving south on Pacific Coast Highway when he veered into oncoming traffic and was struck by an SUV.

Mark died at the scene, and Maxwell died at 1:45 a.m. at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, never regaining consciousness.

Police are still investigating, but have ruled out drugs and alcohol as causes.

A memorial at the crash site reflected the personalities of the two boys, each within a week of his 17th birthday.

Mark’s volleyball jersey and Maxwell’s cross-country team sweatshirt lay amid dozens of flower arrangements baking in the sun.

Next to a wooden cross, Mark’s electric guitar was planted upside-down in the weed-strewn dirt.

A piece of the bumper of Maxwell’s car rested next to his surfing championship trophies and a broken surfboard, “R.I.P.” scrawled on its nose.

Rocks anchored fading letters and birthday cards among flowers and tiki torches.

In their notes, students remembered the boys’ kindness, along with Sadler’s perpetual smile and Mark’s favorite band, the Doors.

One boy wrote a message to Maxwell on a blue swim fin: “I wish I would’ve gotten a chance to have surfed with you, the last time, or gone to a show or do anything at all.... But I guess god had another purpose for you in a place much better than this earth.”

During the school day, adults gathered at the memorial.

Men and women introduced themselves, consoling one another, and by the end of their conversations were embracing.

“That so many people would come here and write these things really touches my heart,” said parent Shelley Adermatt.

“It doesn’t surprise me. It’s the kind of community we are.”

Two girls spent their lunchtime at the memorial, six miles from campus, gulping down burgers and soda in their truck as they stared at the flowers.

One of Mark’s best friends, sophomore Justin McCollum, said after school on Tuesday that he has twice visited the memorial: once on Saturday afternoon with the volleyball team and again that night for a candlelight vigil.

While closer to Mark, “a really funny guy who liked to rap,” Justin got to know Maxwell in April during a weeklong church trip to Molokai to build homes for the poor.

Hearing everyone talk about the crash Tuesday was difficult, Justin said, but he’s trying to draw inspiration from his sadness.

“Mark was my best friend,” Justin said. “I’m going to try to do everything I can to live my life to the fullest, since he didn’t have enough time.”