DEATH STALKS FAMILY GRIEF-STRICKEN DAD DIES; KIDS ORPHANS NOW.

Byline: Greg Botonis and Karen Maeshiro Staff Writers

PALMDALE - When Lora Harper died in a car crash, it was too much for her husband of 25 years.

Arthur Harper was telephoning family and friends to tell them of his wife's death when he was stricken by an apparent heart attack - orphaning their two college-student daughters and a 14-year-old son.

``If I have a heart attack, it will be tonight,'' the Quail Valley Elementary School teacher told his son as he walked upstairs to begin making calls less than eight hours after his wife's death.

The Palmdale couple were vivacious and devoted to each other, co-workers said.

``They always did everything together,'' said Diana Vaughan, administrator of the San Fernando Valley-based home health care firm where Lora was a registered nurse. ``They were a very close family. She was always talking about Arthur or her daughters and how smart they are and her son. She was just very proud of them all.''

Lora was driving on Sierra Highway to pick up her son, Clinton, at Lancaster Christian School Thursday afternoon when a car veered across the center line to avoid an object in the road and struck her Honda Civic head-on.

A Ford SUV then hit Lora's compact from the rear.

She was pronounced dead at Antelope Valley Hospital.

Arthur was found dead about 8:25 a.m. Friday by his son. He was slumped across the couple's bed, a personal phone book open next to him and a telephone on the night stand. Clinton called 911 and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, authorities said.

A paramedic said it looked like Arthur had a heart attack, deputies said.

Arthur, 47, a composer and singer of children's songs who led the children's choir at First Presbyterian Church in Palmdale, had been with the Palmdale School District for four years, officials said. He taught in a combination fourth- and fifth-grade class.

``Everybody here is very sad,'' Quail Valley Assistant Principal Ken Azzari said. ``It's a very sad day here.''

A team of counselors and psychologists were on hand at Quail Valley to offer help to students and employees who needed it, Superintendent Nancy Smith said.

``It's awful, it's beyond words. Our hearts grieve for Clinton and his sisters,'' said Sherry Wood, principal of Lancaster Christian School.

Lora, 50, was a registered nurse who worked out of Sun Plus Home Health Services' Antelope Valley office. The firm provides care to invalids in their homes.

She had worked for the company since 1986, when it was the Visiting Nurses Association of Los Angeles.

``She was a wonderful person, always positive, always smiling,'' said Vaughn, who had worked with Lora since 1986. ``I had never seen her not smiling. She always had something positive to say about someone.''

A neighbor said the couple had celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary a few months ago.

They had bought their house in the Antelope Valley Country Club brand-new in 1998.

Father and son were avid ping-pong players and competed together in tournaments, and were frequently heard playing basketball in the back yard, neighbors said. After their second-oldest daughter Dara went off to California State University, Chico, they said, Lora got a Boston terrier puppy.

``Ping-pong, that was Arthur's thing, that was his sport,'' said neighbor Scott Freistadt. ``They were kind of quiet, within their own family. It seemed like it was just the five of them until the girls went off to school. They were really into their church and their work and their kids.''

An aunt who lives in Los Angeles came and got the boy and was going to see his sister in Northern California, deputies said. The other daughter, Andrea, goes to California State University, Long Beach.