Clay County teacher killed in boating accident remembered by friends, family

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Family and friends gathered to remember a Clay County teacher killed in a boating accident.

Jodi Nesi, 42, was a wife, a mother of three and a speech pathologist at Plantation Oaks Elementary. She would've turned 43-years-old Wednesday.

Thursday, mourners will gather to honor the wife and mother of three. Her visitation is expected to be packed with families she helped, like the Taylor family.

The Taylor family tells Action News Jax Nesi helped their 9-year-old son, Stevie, who suffers from autism, “their angel here on earth.”

The Taylor family says four years ago, Stevie couldn’t talk.

“He couldn’t communicate,” says Kashonda Taylor, Stevie’s mother.

But Nesi didn’t give up.

“She said he’s going to be talking, we are going to get him to talk,” Taylor says.

Over the months, he began to talk.

“Hi, my name is Stevie Taylor,” says little Stevie.

“And we just noticed things just started connecting. He would start adding more words to where he was saying sentences,” says Taylor.

“When he got that breakthrough, it was like wow,” says Stevie Taylor Sr.

Visitation for Jodi Nesi is from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 13, at the Jacksonville Memory Gardens Funeral Home.

Nesi’s funeral is at 11 a.m.  Friday, July 14 at Orange Park Methodist Church

Cox Media Group