Taking care of people was one of Sara Johnson Moss’ joys in life.

About a year and a half ago, she was thrilled to get a job with United Cerebral Palsy’s day program in Woodland, helping adults with developmental disabilities strengthen their mobility, technology and communication skills.

“She was a star there,” Moss’ husband, William Moss, said in an interview Thursday outside the couple’s North Davis apartment. He said his wife’s talents became evident when it came to one particular client named Ricky.

“Nobody could handle Ricky, but Sara came in and treated Ricky like a person, and he listened to her,” he said. “She never treated anyone different because of a handicap. She never looked at them as being disabled.”

Moss’ mother-in-law, Gail Moss, recalled a time when Sara Moss brought one of her clients into the Moss family business, Barney’s Good Time Music in Woodland, knowing the girl responded well to music.

“She just bounced around and talked to her like she talked to us,” Gail Moss said.

Sara Moss, 35, died Wednesday afternoon when a UCP bus taking seven special-needs adults home from the Woodland day program was struck head-on by a Ford F-250 that had drifted into the bus’ path. Moss sat among the passengers during the ride, making sure the trip was a comfortable one.

“My wife died doing what she loved to do,” William Moss said.

When she wasn’t working, Moss — mother to two teenage daughters — loved to visit Disneyland and “would find any excuse” to go to Capitola, its beaches and quaint village reminiscent of her childhood stomping grounds in Carmel Valley, William Moss said.

She moved to Yolo County as a youth, attending Plainfield Elementary School, Douglass Junior High and Woodland High School along with her future husband, who was one of her good friends.

Even though Sara Moss had a crush on William since they were 16, the pair never dated until about five years ago. They married in December 2009.

On Thursday, William Moss pointed toward a wooden bench just steps away from their apartment door.

“It was here we had our first kiss, and I never left after that,” he said. “She was the princess of everything, and I was the prince of everything that was left.”

Yolo County coroner’s officials identified the Ford truck driver as Woodland resident Jeffery Richard Rivas, 52, who died of multiple blunt-force injuries as a result of the crash. He was wearing a seat belt, and neither alcohol, drugs nor medical issues were believed to be factors in the incident, Chief Deputy Coroner Robert LaBrash said.

Moss’ cause of death was ruled as blunt-force head, neck and chest injuries, LaBrash said.

Why Rivas drifted into oncoming traffic remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

The driver of the UCP bus, 35-year-old Luz Torres of Sacramento, had “no time to react” before the two vehicles crashed, according to the CHP Officer Bryan Konvalin.

Torres was listed in critical but stable condition Thursday at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where she was being treated for multiple broken bones and head trauma, Konvalin said.

Seven passengers in the bus were injured in the crash — all UCP clients who were being transported to their Woodland homes when the 2:45 p.m. collision occurred, the CHP and UCP officials said. An eighth client from Davis had been dropped off just minutes earlier.

CHP released the following information Thursday about the injured passengers and their conditions:

* Laura Sue Weiderholt, 48, transported by CHP helicopter to Mercy San Juan Hospital. She suffered from multiple extremity injuries, including broken bones, and head trauma and was listed in unstable and critical condition.

* Stephanie Mouser, 34, listed in stable condition at Mercy San Juan Hospital with multiple extremity injures, including broken bones and a broken lower back.

* Maria Arce, 59, transported to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in South Sacramento by a CalStar helicopter with abrasions and contusions to her entire body. Her condition at this time is not known.

* Rhonda Letbetter, 48, transported to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Vacaville for injuries to her extremities, including a broken arm. Her condition is unknown at this time.

* Leo Jimenez, 29, transported to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Vacaville for lacerations to his head and face. His condition is unknown at this time.

* Barbara Starnes, 61, transported to Mercy San Juan Hospital by ground ambulance for minor abrasions. She is in stable condition at this time.

* Nicole Tabarez, 24, treated for abdominal contusions at Sutter Davis Hospital and released.

Three of the passengers used wheelchairs that were secured inside the bus at the time of the crash, while the four others were ambulatory and would have used bus seats equipped with seat belts, said Steve Horton, director of development for United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Sacramento.

Wednesday’s fatal crash was the first for UCP in the more than 30 years it has transported clients from their homes to their designated day programs in Yolo and Sacramento counties, Horton said.

“This is a shock to the entire UCP family. We all take this very personally,” Horton said. He added that crisis counselors were being provided to assist staff and clients who were affected by Wednesday’s tragedy.

Horton said Sara Moss was one of “the people who make life great for our participants. They work hand in hand with the clients.”

— Reach Lauren Keene at [email protected] or (530) 747-8048. Follow her on Twitter @laurenkeene

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