It took three hours.
But for the thousands who turned out Friday night to say a last goodbye to Sarah Garibay, Greg Von Bargen and Kyle Yearion, each step in the slow-moving visitation line was painful progress toward healing.
''This just doesn't seem real at all,'' said sophomore Jennifer Paul, 16, of St. Bernard who expressed her grief in a poem read at a Wednesday memorial mass at school. ''I'm so confused inside. Their names just don't fit with the word 'dead.'''
The three teens - all sophomores at Roger Bacon High School - died on their way to the St. Bernard Catholic school Tuesday when their speeding car collided head-on with another car in Winton Place.
Both drivers - Greg's brother, Steven, 17, a Roger Bacon junior, and Donald Robinson, 37, of Union Township, Clermont County - were hospitalized. Steven was released Wednesday; Mr. Robinson remained in fair condition Friday at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Neither driver remembers the accident, police said.
At a visitation for the three Friday night in the school gym, classmates, teachers, relatives and friends gathered around the teens' open caskets, hugging each other and sobbing quietly as they prayed over Sarah in a jeweled tiara, Kyle with a dreamcatcher and Greg with a striped Dr. Seuss hat beside him.
Their pictures papered posters propped near the caskets, and songs from the band The Cranberries poured from school speakers.
Mourners stood a dozen deep to view the teens; some had waited as much as three hours in lines that wound back and forth through the cafeteria.
Mass of Christian Burial is today at 10 a.m. at the school, 4320 Vine St.
With the deaths of three so young, anger is an inevitable emotion as the teens' families and friends struggle to comprehend the tragedy, counselors say. Police say Steven Von Bargen was driving more than 60 mph in a 35-mph zone when he went into a skid on a dry straightaway on Este Avenue.
But blame was far from many minds Friday. Prayer, constant counseling and strong community ties are helping many families channel their grief into compassion rather than bitterness, families and school administrators say.
''We have no anger against Steven,'' said Rob Garibay of Highland, Mich., Sarah's uncle. ''Obviously he made a mistake in judgment, but our hearts are with him. He's going to have to live with this for the rest of his life.''
Agreed Kent Smith, an assistant wrestling coach who coached Kyle: ''It was an accident - accidents happen. That kid's going to have to come back to school. He'll have a lot of people looking at him, and he'll need some support. He made an honest mistake.''
But many parents said the accident provided a lesson countless kids can benefit from.
''This is the age when kids are all going out on the road as new drivers. An accident like this is every parent's nightmare,'' said Debbie Craddock, 39, a mother of three from St. Bernard, whose 16-year-old daughter recently received a learner's permit.
''You can talk to these kids till you're blue in the face, and they're like, 'Hey world, look at me - I've got a driver's license!' I hope this will be a real eye-opener that having your driver's license is an adult privilege. Cars are no joke - they can be deadly.''
Investigators haven't determined what role a broken-down parked minivan played in the wreck. They suspect Steven may not have seen the minivan parked in the curbside lane at first, then jerked the steering wheel to avoid it, losing control of his car.
Tuesday's accident wasn't the school's first brush with tragedy. Two Roger Bacon teachers and several students have died in recent years.
Ron Lamb, who taught English and Latin for 22 years, drowned while swimming in the ocean in June 1995 at Myrtle Beach, S.C. And Joseph Kneip, who taught English and social studies for 37 years, died of melanoma in May 1994.
In December 1975, two students, Daniel Knecht and Mark Burkhart, both 17, died when their car smashed into an oncoming car in Springfield Township. And another student died about six years ago when he committed suicide.
Almost 17 percent of those killed in Ohio auto accidents in 1995 - 230 of 1,357 - were aged 16 to 20. Drivers under 21 were involved in 288 fatal crashes that year, the most recent for which data were available.
Nationwide, traffic accidents are the No. 1 cause of death between 16 and 21, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board. Six thousand kids between 15 and 20 died in motor vehicle accidents nationwide. Fatal crashes accounted for 35 percent of deaths of kids 15 to 20.
Michael Hawthorne contributed.
Previous stories
POLICE TRY TO RECONSTRUCT CRASH Jan. 17, 1997
PALL CAST OVER ROGER BACON Jan. 16, 1997
3 DEATHS SHATTER SCHOOL Jan. 15, 1997
