Todd Phelps chose not to talk about his late father.
At least not at first.
He knew a column about Michael Phelps, killed by a reckless driver while riding his motorcycle more than two years ago, would include things about court proceedings and hard feelings and a vibrant life taken too soon, at age 66.
After all, 25-year-old Jordan Heath of Concord had just been handed a suspended sentence, part of a plea deal in which she admitted to texting while driving after initially denying it during an earlier trial. Todd had had it after so long.
Adding to the mix were the conflicted feelings involved. Here was a young woman who left home on June 30, 2014, with no intent of hurting anyone. And Heath was a former student at the Three Rivers School in Pembroke, taught in eighth grade by Michael’s daughter, Alyza Morris, who recalled a good kid. And, honestly, hadn’t we all texted and driven, at some point in our lives?
Soon, though, Todd spoke to Morris and their mother, Alice Phelps. Perhaps, they all agreed, despite the pain and search for closure and the hard questions, it was a good idea to let me in, document who Michael was, what he meant to people, maybe even highlight lessons learned.
And so we talked, a meeting in Allenstown in Alice’s kitchen, brightly lit with a pumpkin in the center of the table and a Laconia High School graduation photo of Michael attached to the refrigerator.
“I didn’t realize you guys wanted to do a story on him and not so much on the trial itself,” said Morris, a 36-year teacher at Three Rivers School in Pembroke. “We liked the idea of showing who he was instead of harping on the proceedings.”
Michael was a teacher for 35 years in the Concord School District. He coached basketball, baseball, football, track and softball. He taught drivers’ education. He met with a prostate cancer survivors’ group, opening up about his own fight with the disease to help others feel more comfortable.
“That was his passion in life, teaching people,” said Todd Phelps, a 42-year-old corrections officer living in Loudon. “I think teaching and being able to educate people and help others was who he was. That was his biggest enjoyment.”
Grand kids were a big part, too. There were five at the time of his death, six now, and Michael’s wife and children make sure they all know about grampy, especially during holiday time. Alice’s home is the core for all gatherings.
“Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, all here,” Alice, a retired credit union loan officer, told me.
I asked Alice how she and Michael met, back in their school days in Laconia, and she told me this: “I was worth 50 cents. My cousin and he used to hang around, and my cousin bet Mike that I would not go out with him.”
Alice said they used to dance together as teens, and the family noted Michael loved to fish. He retired from teaching in 2004.
Ten years later, Michael was riding his motorcycle when Heath ran a red light at a busy Allenstown intersection. He died later at Concord Hospital.
Police knocked on Alice’s front door and said her husband had been hurt. Alice called Todd, who called Morris, who had just walked into the park at Santa’s Village with her family. They got in the car and drove to the hospital, a two-hour ride.
Following Michael’s death, an outpouring of love and loss flowed through Concord High’s hallways, with teacher Chris Makris saying at the time, “The thing that really took (Phelps) over the edge into superstardom was his ability to relate to the kids. If I were ever in a position to put together a teaching staff, he’d be one of my first hires.”
From there, grief stretched on for months and then years as Heath claimed her brakes had failed and the prosecution said she had been texting. A hung jury emerged five months ago on the charge of negligent homicide, building new scars for the family and extending their healing process.
That’s why they accepted the ensuing plea deal last week: Heath pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular assault and admitted texting. In exchange, she received a suspended sentence and two years probation. She also lost her license for five years.
“We were emotionally spent, and we didn’t really want to go to trial again,” said Todd, explaining why the family accepted the plea deal. “It was difficult enough hearing it all the first time.”
Here’s where we enter the area that caused Todd to decline my initial interview request. Heath had refused to take responsibility, and that made an awful scenario far, far worse.
“If she had admitted she made a mistake, our feelings toward her and the situation would have been completely different than denying it for so long,” Todd said. “At that point we were just angry that she wouldn’t own up to what she had done.”
For Morris, the defendant was more than a name. Now 25, Heath was once a 13-year-old student in Morris’s class during her first year teaching at Three Rivers School.
“I remember her as being a good student,” Morris said. “When I knew her she was a good kid. She did fairly well in school and mostly kept herself out of trouble.”
That only added to the chaotic emotional mix here, combining a tragic death that had nothing to do with old age or natural causes, with a crime devoid of evil or hatred.
Heath made a mistake, a bad one, but one that is quite common, actually. The two children, in fact, admitted to driving while distracted – Todd while texting, Morris while talking on the phone.
“It could have been any of us,” Todd told me. “I work in the prison, I see people who have made mistakes that have impacted their lives in an incredibly negative way. Some people are locked up because they made a mistake, a poor choice, not intending to hurt anyone. I get it.”
Added Morris, “Everyone makes mistakes, and before the accident, I admit, I, too, would have been guilty of distracted driving.”
They wanted Heath to admit what she’d done, back when the accident first occurred. Instead, they were forced to endure an extra two years of pain before the chains were unlocked in court last week, freeing them to join hands and move down a different path.
Thankfully, others may benefit from this. As part of her plea deal, Heath must produce a public service announcement in the next six months about the dangers of distracted driving.
The children have already gotten the message: hands on the wheel, eyes forward. “Obviously this changed my life in that regard, too,” Morris said. “The video was sort of the silver lining. Someone is going to learn from what happened here.”
In other words, for Michael Phelps, class remains in session.
“My father was a teacher,” Morris said. “I really believe this is sort of like his final lesson plan.”