Remembering the Lives Lost in the Devastating Kobe Bryant Crash

“She was extraordinary,” Matt Mauser said of his bride, mother of children Penny, Tomand Ivyand an assistant coach on Kobe’s Mamba Academy team. “She was incredibly witty, funny, funny like no one you’ve ever met.”

And skill enough on the court to catch the eye of a certain 18-time NBA All Star. With Matt and Christina both serving as coaches at the private school in Orange County, California, where Kobe’s daughters attended, “He saw what a great spirit [Christina] had for basketball and he brought her up,” Matt explained during his Jan. 27 Today appearance. “He asked her to teach the kids defense.”

Nicknamed MOD, as in Mother of Defense, “She was warm, she was incredibly bright, she was technologically incredibly savvy,” Matt continued. “She could figure anything out.” Now he and his children are trying to figure out how to move forward while honoring her legacy. “I’m just trying to live the life that Christina wants us to live,” he shared The Orange County Register. “Life is for living, and life is beautiful despite all the stuff we’ve been through and everyone’s been through. You have to find joy in life.”