It will soon be the one-year anniversary of the death of my daughter Joy, her husband, John and my granddaughter Sarah Ward. The family, on August 23, 2009, was driving at approximately 7:30 A.M. on Route 30 north, in Milton, when a driver coming south dropped his iced tea and bent over to retrieve it. His car went into John’s lane, and this caused the collision which took my precious family. When I see people talking or texting on their cell phones while driving, I can’t help but think that this could probably happen again to someone else’s family. The driver’s inattentiveness to the road is the only reason this young family has left us.
Sarah was 14 and about to enter high school in September 2009, and John and Joy were 33 and 32 years old respectively. Seeing my grandchild’s new, empty backpack hanging from her bedroom doorknob is a vision that will last forever. Not only one backpack but two, as our eight-year old granddaughter Hailey who survived after three months of medical care, would not go back to Long Neck Elementary. She lives in Pennsylvania with other relatives. In Delaware, Grandmothers do not automatically have rights to guardianship.
You may not think you are taking chances, but you are when you are distracted by using your cell phone while driving, or doing something else inappropriate. This devastating loss was because someone with a limited license wanted to bend over and retrieve his iced tea container. In just a couple of seconds, a beautiful family was no longer with us in Sussex County where they had worked and raised their children. They never got to move into that new house that was being built. Their lives stopped and ours did too. The efforts of the fire companies, ambulances and hospitals will not be forgotten.
Thank you to everyone in Sussex County who joins me in keeping the memory of the Ward Family alive.
Gratefully, Dolores Rubolin, Joy’s Mom
