KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Megan Criniere remembers her husband Charlie as the most authentic person she's ever met.
"The kindest," she said. "He wasn't just looking out for his own good, but everybody’s good."
The pair had been together for 20 years, married 18 of those.
"I think we just lived everyday to the moment where we could get back to being together, Megan said. "Whether it was talking on the couch, or praying, or watching a movie we just wanted to be together."
During those 18 years Megan and Charlie had 10 kids. According to Megan, Charlie was a devoted father.
"He wasn't afraid to do laundry, to do dishes, come and sweep the floor, change a diaper," Megan said.
Charlie's 10 children are now grieving the loss of their father.
Charlie died after being hit while riding his bike near Longview Road and View High Drive on Saturday morning.
The day police told her Charlie had died, Megan Criniere said the world stopped around her.
"There were two police cars in front of the house, and a neighbor said, 'Is everything ok,'" she said. "So I ran inside the house, and there are two police officers by mom and she's crying. He gave me the news, 'I'm sorry to tell you your husband has passed in a bike accident."
Megan told KSHB 41 News she remembers seeing her kids faces as they peeped into the room hearing the news about their father.
"Why is she crying, shes saying this, like what does that mean? Can it be real? I think all those emotions all those different phrases were coming out in different ways," Megan said.
As a mother, Megan says she's focused on helping her kids heal and process their fathers death, but she is also praying for her husband students.
"I pray that they find hope, I pray that they find a way to wrap their mind around it," Megan said.
Charlie was a beloved math teacher at Martin City K-8 School. A problem solver in and outside of the classroom.
"Math was just a platform to get him around kids in hopes of telling them like — there's a future," Megan Criniere said
Megan said she and her husband devoted time into their 10 kids, but also Charlie's students.
"We've given so many cupcakes and so many diapers to teen moms," she said. "We’ve tried to help in little ways never really knowing if it made an impact." said Megan.
Moving forward, Megan Criniere said she and her family, are realizing the imapct her husband left, and they are finding strength through the support of others.
"(There's been) non-stop traffic of people just coming to the house," she said. "(We've) opened up the door to a porch full of toilet paper, food and cards. Every time we step outside, there are neighbors coming over."
Now as a mother of 10 and a woman of faith, Megan says shes unsure what the days ahead will look like.
"I think it looks like crying, I think it looks like laughing, I think it looks like being mad, I think it looks like not understanding and still moving forward." said Megan. "We can continue hopefully, like can continue in how we set out to raise our kids in how the investment we wanted to make in them," she said. " Yeah we pray the lord just makes a way for us to keep doing that."
In the meantime, although her husband's death is hard to wrap her head around, she knows she and her children will get through this.
"Even though it's an ending it's just a beginning," Megan said.
On Tuesday, Kansas City, Missouri, police announced they located a vehicle believed to be connected to the hit-and-run. The department is still searching for a driver.
KCPD asks anyone with information to contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at (816)-474-8477.
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