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Died December 25, 2020.
Milton High School, Milton, FL
Science, Football Coach
Jeff Larson, a longtime Milton High School science teacher and football coach, passed away on Christmas Day due to COVID-19.
Larson was 60 years old and had been a teacher at Milton High for the past 25 years.
Santa Rosa County School District Superintendent Karen Barber confirmed Larson’s death to the News Journal, saying the school and entire Milton community had lost an incredible teacher and man and that he would be missed by his students and fellow faculty members.
“Jeff had been sick, he had not been in school for the previous two weeks (before Christmas break),” Barber said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “He had been in the hospital for several weeks receiving treatment for COVID before he passed away. It had been a long, very, very difficult treatment, they were trying to save his life.”
Larson’s wife teaches at Rhodes Elementary School and their daughter teaches at Pace High School, Barber said.
In a public Facebook post, former Milton Mayor Wesley Meiss honored his late coach and mentor, saying Larson was a “Christian (who) set an example for my own walk with Christ.”
“He was more than a coach; he was a mentor who helped set the stage for my adult life,” Meiss wrote. “Many have wondered just how he took a group of average/undersized offensive linemen and delivered them to the doorstep of a Florida State Championship? Answer: ‘Technique.’ … His technique turned young boys into the men we are today.”
Larson’s death is the latest in a string of COVID-19 deaths to rock the Milton High community.
The school’s longtime track and field coach Joe Austin died in July after battling the disease for many weeks, leaving behind his wife and young son. The school’s assistant principal, Benjie West, also lost his 80-year-old father to COVID on Christmas day. The elder Benjamin Howard West was laid to rest on Tuesday.
“We’ve had so many loved ones pass away, we’ve had mothers and fathers, spouses,” Barber said. “It’s just one of the worst things I’ve had to deal with as superintendent. We have monthly meetings with our senior staff, principals and vice principals, and this month I made us meet virtually, because having 70 people in a room right now maybe isn’t the best for mitigating the spread of the virus.”
Barber has consistently stood by her decision to keep Santa Rosa County schools open despite the rising COVID cases, saying health department inspectors have determined spread is not happening within the schools.
Barber said grief counselors will be available for students and faculty once school is back in session on Jan. 4.