School helps students deal with deaths Best friends killed in N.J. crash. Counselors provided for friends, others affected by tragedy. Tuesday, February 13, 2007 • By Tom Quigley • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Phillipsburg High School students returned to classes Monday under a pall cast by the weekend deaths of two local teenagers. Counselors were on hand to help those students most affected by the deaths of 2006 graduate Edward J. McNally of Pohatcong Township and senior Francis G. "Pring" Thiel of Phillipsburg. The inseparable friends died at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday in a single-vehicle crash in Lopatcong Township. The wreck happened on a stretch of Route 519 near the Warren County Fairgrounds. Warren County Medical Examiner Isidore Mihalakis said Monday night Thiel died of multiple chest injuries while McNally suffered a broken neck. George Chando, the school district's director of secondary education, said students did seek out help from the counselors. "As anyone could imagine there was a somber mood," Chando said. He said the counseling services offer students grieving the loss of a friend a way to express their feelings. "It's a trying time for the school community as it would be in any community," Chando said. "As a school district, our sympathy and our thoughts are with the families at this time." Recent Phillipsburg High School graduate Brent Cassar knew both young men. Cassar, 18, a freshman at Warren County Community College, said he met McNally, 19, and Thiel in his sophomore or junior year of high school. He said the connection came from a shared interest in skating at the Delaware River Park. Cassar described McNally as someone "who always had jokes." "He was fun to be around," he said. He said news of the crash came gradually through friends. "At first I didn't know who it was," he said. "Then somebody told me Ed had died." Cassar said he knew Thiel, 18, better than McNally. Soon came the news of Thiel's death. "I was a little bit shocked," he said. "Another person that I know, another wake. It was definitely rough to hear it." He said he also knew both people killed in a Feb. 4, 2006, crash on Route 22; Charles J. Slack III, 18, of Alpha, and Amber Matlock, 15, of Phillipsburg, died in that wreck. "Those are roads I drive on every single day," he said. "It's definitely a little scary." Cassar said it seems like "a few of the faces you knew in high school are disappearing and you know you're never going to see them again." Reporter Tom Quigley can be reached at 908-475-8184 or by e-mail at tquigley@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.