A popular Freedom High School teacher was killed last week when his motorcycle struck a city street sweeper.

According to Oakley Police Chief Chris Thorsen, Antioch resident Charles Edgle Smith, 56, was riding his motorcycle on Dec. 17 at approximately 8 a.m. when he hit the side of the street sweeper as it was making a U-turn on Neroly Road and Frandoras Circle. Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.

“We still have a lot of investigation to do right now, but it appears that the truck was making a U-turn and the motorcyclist ran into the side,” said Thorsen. “We have to look at all the facts and circumstances in the case and probably do some reconstruction in terms of the speed of the vehicles.

“From all accounts he was a great guy, and this is very sad. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”

Smith had taught health, driver’s education and decision-making at Freedom for more than 10 years, and before that at Liberty High School for nearly a decade. He was a strong supporter of school athletics, served as head freshman football coach at Freedom in the early 2000s and was a starter for the track team. He served as P.A. announcer for the boys and girls basketball games, and was the announcer this year for the Freedom football team.

“My dad affected a wide array of people from very different backgrounds,” said Smith’s son Nate, head football coach at Liberty High School. “He could be friends with anyone and I guess that’s one of the best measures of who he was. He was someone who truly placed family, friends and people above anything else. He always took care of everyone.”

“This has been a tremendous blow to Freedom’s students, teachers and staff,” said Freedom Principal Erik Faulkner. “If anyone exemplified a passion for Freedom, it was Ed. He will be sorely missed.”

“He loved what he did,” added Nate. “He wasn’t one of these teachers who went home at 3 o’clock every day. He was at every boys and girls basketball and football game and every track meet. That’s what he loved.”

Smith is survived by children Trevor, Colby and Nate, and granddaughters Skylar, Ainsley and Reilly.

A public memorial is planned for Jan. 6 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Freedom High School gymnasium.Smith was one of three Oakley educators to die last week. Delta Vista Middle School’s Ivania Galindo, 45, died last Friday. She had been involved in a collision with a fire engine earlier this month, although it was not known at press time if injuries suffered in the accident contributed to her death. Lucy Moyer, 38, a teacher at Vintage Parkway Elementary, succumbed to cancer on Dec. 14.