By Andrew Coen
Tepler, of 445 Ocean Ave. in Lawrence, was killed in an auto accident on the morning of March 1. Police said she had just driven over the Atlantic Beach Bridge and was heading north on Nassau Expressway (Route 878) at 8:46 a.m. when her 2004 Lexus SUV slammed into the flat-bed back of a tractor trailer stopped at a red light just south of Rock Hall Road. The impact sent Tepler, who was driving alone, through the SUV's windshield, causing massive head trauma, according to police.
Emergency response crews quickly arrived on the scene and airlifted Tepler to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where she was pronounced dead at 12:05 p.m. The operator of the truck was not injured. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident.
While fighting back tears, family members spoke about what Tepler meant to them at the funeral service, which was attended by a standing-room-only crowd despite the wintry conditions outside. "You are finally at peace, yet so tragically," said her husband of 20 years, Melvin. "I will always love her. You will always be sorely missed."
"I think she was the best mother," said her daughter, Mindy, through her tears.
Tepler's other two surviving children are Shani, a student at the University of Maryland, and Max.
The funeral was attended by many students from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School, where Mindy is a 10th-grade student. HAFTR psychologist Dr. Ditza Berger said that with assistance from Chai Lifeline, counseling services were made available to students who were in need of someone to talk to. "We will provide support for students as necessary as time goes on," said Berger. "The real concern of the students is Mindy."
Berger said that HAFTR faculty members made accommodations to allow students to attend the funeral and shiva.
"She did everything for [her family] to make them happy," said Tepler's nephew, Shlomo Dichman. "[Family] was her whole life."
Dichman also spoke of her devotion to her siblings, whom, he said, she made an effort to get in contact with each day. "They talked 10 times, 20 times a day, and that is not an exaggeration," said Dichman. "They did everything they could for each other."
Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, spiritual leader of Tepler's synagogue, Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, described her as someone devoted to family and maintaining a beautiful home. Teitelbaum also said that Tepler made sure her children learned her parents' native language of Yiddish, and that she made a habit of sending clothes that her children outgrew to the needy. "Beautiful home, beautiful children and a touch of true elegance," Teitelbaum said of Tepler. "There is beauty that lasts forever."
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
