DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA. (THECOUNT) — Priscilla Marshall, the Turner Middle School “teacher of the year,” has passed away after being involved in a Douglas County, Georgia, car crash last week, according to reports.

Earlier this month, Marshall, 63, was celebrating being selected teacher of the year at the middle school she served for more than a decade. Now, the community is mourning her loss.

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The seventh grade teacher was voted the 2019-2020 teacher of the year by her peers at Turner Middle School. Every school day for 13 years, Marshall traveled from her home in Anniston, Alabama, to the school in Lithia Springs. She had been an educator for more than four decades, beginning her career in 1977 in Alabama, reports WSB.

“Dr. Priscilla Marshall was a woman of great service and leadership who was respected by all staff members,” Turner Principal Darron Franklin said in a statement. “Her suggestions and directions were always enthusiastically received by her colleagues at Turner, and she will be greatly missed by everyone.”

Marshall earned her doctoral degree from the University of Phoenix last year. Nat Turner, she taught in the classroom and served as a team leader.

School leaders described her as an innovator who offered advice and seasoned wisdom to new teachers throughout her tenure.

“All of us in the Douglas County School System are deeply saddened by the loss of Dr. Marshall,” Superintendent Trent North said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to her personal family in Alabama as well as her school family. … The positive impact she made will live on through the young lives she impacted.”

Geo quick facts: Douglas County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 132,403, nearly double that in 1990. The county seat is Douglasville. Douglas County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.