The family of a San Antonio educator and U.S. Army veteran — one of 10 people who died last week in an Alaskan plane crash — has launched a fundraiser to bring home her remains.
San Antonio native Carol Mendiola Mooers, 48, was aboard a small commuter aircraft traveling to Nome, Alaska, Thursday when the plane crashed into the icy Bearing Sea, according to search and rescue crews.
Mooers was working as a school counselor in Unalakleet, a village of roughly 700 residents, and was en route to pick up students for college tours in Juneau and Anchorage at the time of the crash, according to an online fundraiser launched by her son Aaron.
The Spotfund campaign seeks to cover the cost of bringing Mooers’ remains back to San Antonio for burial.
“This is a very difficult time for everyone,” Aaron Mooers wrote on the fundraiser’s webpage. “We are doing this because she deserves the best and she had always wanted to be buried with her fellow service members in San Antonio, TX.”
Before moving to Alaska three years ago, Mooers worked as a teacher and counselor at Edgewood and Harlandale independent school districts. She also studied at the University of the Incarnate Word before graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio, according to KSAT.
In Alaska, Mooers was a “keystone” member of the community, who spent much of her time helping students achieve their goals, the Unalakleet School wrote in a Monday Facebook post.
“She spent most of her lunchtimes with the students and almost every weekend supporting student activities,” school officials wrote. “There aren’t enough words to express the magnitude of loss or to honor her many contributions to the Wolfpack.”
The fundraiser to repatriate Mooer’s remains has already pulled in nearly $20,000.
Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the crash.
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This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.
