A woman and other family members died on the way to her husband's funeral, leaving her children in foster care and her mother grieving.
A Florida mother mourns her daughter and son-in-law’s deaths within a week of one another, according to local reports.
Amy Lamm’s son-in-law Jayson Lowery, 29, died suddenly due to a brain condition, according to local station WWNY.
On July 16, her daughter, Desiree Lowery, 29, lovingly known as Dezi, was in a vehicle with her husband's aunt, cousin, and a few family friends when an accident occurred, according to WWNY.
According to the outlet, they had been driving back from Rochester where they picked up a family friend, Mark Hubbard, 33, so he could attend Jayson's funeral.
On the way there, the group got into a car accident, which was discovered by Jayson's uncle, Jim Henry, according to the outlet.
Henry told the outlet he spotted the vehicle on its roof in the creek below and could hear his 14-year-old daughter, Joy, screaming for help. He immediately ran to assist.
“There was a lot of adrenaline and stuff. When I jumped in the water, like, it didn’t even cross my mind; it was just automatically getting the people out,” said Henry.
Henry pulled his daughter and Hubbard of out of the wreckage, finding that Joy was okay but Hubbard was badly injured, according to the outlet.
According to the outlet, Henry’s wife, Jackie Henry, 34, and her best friend, Lorraine Stevens, 25, died at Gouverneur Hospital. Dezi was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Don’t take life for granted. You never know when it’s gonna end,” said Henry.
Jayson Lowery and Jackie Henry were volunteers with the fire department and fellow first responder Richville Fire Chief Corie Farr was one of the first to arrive on the scene, per WYNY.
“Just couldn’t believe that that could be happening, you know, to have a brother fireman that we’re laying in the ground that day and then to respond to a call and his wife and aunt were both in that vehicle," said Farr.
"You just couldn’t wrap your mind around it."
Mere hours later, Farr and his fellow firefighters attended the funeral for Jayson, according to the local outlet.
“It’s almost not just one person’s funeral. It was four people’s funeral,” said Farr.
According to the outlet, there are now seven children who have lost parents. In addition to Jackie and Jim Henry's four daughters, Jayson and Desiree Lowery had three girls — 10-year-old Jessica, 8-year-old Cindy Lou, and 20-month-old Lilliana.
“We have to get the seven of them, the kids, to grieve together and to stick together and everybody will get through this,” said Virginia Lennox, Jayson Lowery’s mother.
According to WYNY, the Lowery children will be placed in the care of an aunt.
Lamm told WCTV that right now she lights a candle on Friday around the time anyone last heard from Desiree.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t sit here and cry about my baby,” Lamm said.
The mourning mother told the outlet that she has been carrying around her daughter’s stuffed bear named “Big Cheeks.”
“I’ve been carrying big cheeks around with me pretty much everywhere I go because it’s all I got left of my Dezi to keep her close to me,” she said.
According to the outlet, state police are still investigating what led to the crash.
