Five die in weather-related crashes

By Peter Walker, Staff Writer
The Midland Reporter-Telegram  02/15/2004


By the time it had melted, the ice and snow on area roads had claimed a total of
five lives in four weather-related collisions.

Two Stanton Middle School coaches were both killed in a wreck one mile west of
Stanton in Martin County at approximately 9 p.m. Friday night.

Thomas John Castro, 29, and Michael Steven Mansfield, 25, were both declared
dead at the scene after the 2001 Chevrolet pickup driven westbound by Castro
entered a skid and traveled across the center median on Interstate 20. The truck
was then struck by a Peterbilt tractor-trailer traveling eastbound on I-20. Both
men were wearing seat belts, according to a DPS report.

Mark Cotton, principal and athletic director at Stanton High School described
both men as "really outstanding, outgoing individuals."

Cotton said Castro and Mansfield loved working with kids. Both coached football
and basketball. "You never saw them without a smile on their faces," Cotton
said.

He said both the coaches, which he compared to a family, and the students were
hit hard by the news. Extra counselors and clergy would be on hand Monday to
help with the coping process, Cotton said.

The majority of high school students in Stanton had Castro as a teacher or coach
and all the freshman students had Mansfield as a teacher or coach.

Castro left behind a wife, Roxanne, and their 1-year-old son Jacob. "He was fun
loving; always had a smile on his face; always made everybody laugh," she said
of her husband. She also described him as "a great artist." Thomas Castro had
completed three murals, she said.

Beverly Grant, Mansfield's aunt described him as "loving, outgoing, very
personable." Mansfield, she said, could find humor in any situation. "He was
very funny, and he always had funny stories to tell," she said. Growing up,
Mansfield had dreamed of becoming a professional basketball coach.

Cotton hired both men and had known Castro, a Stanton High graduate, for more
than a decade.

It was Castro's fifth year to teach and coach at the school and Mansfield's
second year, he said.

"Mike's just come in and fit in so well," Cotton said. "All of us have gotten to
know his parents. It's been tough."

Cotton said Castro and Mansfield were known for always making the people around
them laugh.

"Now we're crying," he said.
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