Family reels from deadly school bus crash
On Friday morning, Frederick Ragston warmed up his wife’s truck, kissed her at the door and, as always, told her he loved her as she left for work.
“Have a great day,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”
But Abigail Ragston did not return home. The 59-year-old woman, who worked as an aide on a Hempstead ISD school bus for children with special needs, died when the bus crashed early that afternoon.
The bus was traveling south on FM 1887 in Waller County when the driver overcorrected and lost control for unknown reasons, sending the bus rolling across the road and into a field, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Ragston died at the scene. The driver sustained minor injuries. There were four children on the bus at the time of the crash, including a high school student who was airlifted in serious condition to Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston.
Two boys, ages 6 and 9, were transported by ambulance to the Memorial Hermann hospital in Katy.
State troopers continue to investigate the fatal incident. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. Photos from the crash scene show that the bus sustained serious damage to all sides.
Ragston loved working as an aide on the school bus, a job she held for more than two decades, according to her husband. She helped kids with special needs stay in their seats and stick to good behavior on the way to and from school.
“She loved those children,” her husband said.
The woman had four children of her own, too, and eight grandchildren, Ragston said. They adopted and raised several more children throughout the years as well, he said. The married couple would have celebrated their 25th anniversary
in April.
Outside of work, Ragston loved tending to the flower beds in her yard or taking drives through the country with her husband. The Hempstead native cheered for the Dallas Cowboys; her favorite color was orange. Ragston was a woman of faith who was actively involved at Greater St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church. She founded the church’s praise dance team, her husband said.
“This loss is completely devastating but God has already provided us the strength to sustain,” the senior pastor of the church wrote in a Facebook post. “For those of you who knew her, she filled many lives with love, joy, positivity and a beautiful smile. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt,
cousin and most of all, a friend to many.”
This week, the couple was excited to attend The Nutcracker on Thursday
before celebrating Christmas with their large extended family. Soon, they planned to take a roadtrip to visit Ragston’s son in
Colorado.
“We had so many plans,” her husband said.
Instead, he is now planning his wife’s funeral.
At the scene of the crash, Ragston broke down when an officer confirmed that his wife was killed in the crash. Other people held him back from moving too close. Ragston wanted to see his wife, but the investigator intervened.
“You don’t want to see her like this,” the investigator told the husband, according to Ragston’s recollection.
It remains unclear how the bus crashed, authorities said. Ragston said he knows only the information that authorities have released.
“We don’t have no answers right now,” Ragston said. “All I know is, Abigail is not here no more.”