Beloved South Jersey Teacher Dies In Car Wreck

A N.J. teacher who “touched generations” of students was identified as the victim in one of several fatal car wrecks that happened in the state over the past week.

Nicoleta Oliver, 65, the passenger who died in a one-vehicle crash Sunday, was a beloved former N.J. teacher who also ran a preschool, according to nj.com.

Known as “Nickie,” Oliver taught fifth grade at Dutch Neck Elementary in West Windsor for over 30 years and also owned and operated a preschool on Village Road West. “She touched generations of West Windsor students,” Tony DiPolvere, a former pupil, told nj.com.

Police said Oliver and another person were killed Sunday, and a third person was seriously injured, when her car left the road and struck a tree on South Mill Road Sunday afternoon, according to centraljersey.com.

The driver, Timothy R. Ignas, 74, and Oliver, the rear seat passenger, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at 1:36 p.m. They were identified as residents of Henderson, Nevada, according to the report.

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Ignas was ejected from the car and Oliver was partially ejected from the car; Ignas was wearing a seatbelt, but Ms. Oliver was not wearing one, according to the report.

Ignas allegedly failed to negotiate a curve in the road and then jumped a curb, striking a tree and bouncing off it, and then glancing off a second tree, according to the report.

NJ.com interviewed several people who noted:

• Whenever a retirement party in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district was held, Oliver usually served as master of ceremonies because she as a great speaker and personality.
• Victor McDonald, who went to high school with Oliver at Hamilton’s Steinert High School, graduating in 1968 with future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., pulled out his old yearbook and noted she wrote that she wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
• Debbie Baer, who taught with Oliver for years, said Oliver would skip lunch to assist a fellow teacher, and never rested on her own laurels.

Others also paid tribute on the West Windsor police Facebook page:

• Claire E. Williams: I am so incredibly sad...she shaped me into the person and teacher I have become.
• Peggy Redman: Nicky Oliver was a beloved fifth grade teacher for many West Windsor students in the 80s.