A couple of months ago, I met a wonderful friend through the internet. Joel Pennington, his interests were very similar to mine, he loved loom knitting, knitting with needles, but most of all he loved his family. Everytime we chatted, he talked about the items he was knitting for his wife or for his daughters. Last email we exchanged, we talked about a scarf pattern and how to cast on for it. He was making the scarf for his wife and had plans to also knit the shawl on the Learn to Knit Cables on Looms book for her. His family was always one of the main topics in his conversations.
On Monday, March 17th, he was taking his little girls to school when a car came crashing into theirs. His wife, Rebekah emailed me last night and told me the tragic news. He was able to stay long enough to see his little girls safe out of the car and then at the hospital he went into cardiac arrest.
Joel, I will miss you. I feel very blessed to have met you and to have been touched by your kindness. I am sending love and prayers to your family.
Please take a minute and read the letter that Rebekah sent me.
Hello to everyone. Sorry if this is a repeat for any of you. Many of you I don't know, but found all these addresses in Joel's email address book.
For some of you this may be the first of hearing our tragic news, others this is an update, but please bear with me.
Joel was in an awful car accident on Monday March 17th while driving the girls to school. Diane got herself out of the van which had been hit by an oncoming car and then rolled several times. She told Joel she was going for help, when she then found the nearest person and demanded they call 911 and me at my home which she read off to them. They asked if she was ok and she said yes, but she's going back to get her sister. She went and help Brooke out of the van. Joel was still conscious and concerned for them to get out and that they were ok. Joel was trapped in the van, and the fire and medic departments extricated him to be rushed to the hospital where I work. I arrived on scene as they were loading Diane and Brooke in an ambulance unsure if Joel was alive at all. I went with the girls to seek treatment. Only by nothing short of a miracle Diane and Brooke are alive. Joel arrived at the ER a while later and I quickly rushed to see what his status was. He was severely injured, but talking and asking about the girls and me. I went right in and talked to him. I knew they were going to have to put him out to evaluate his situation. We learned that his pelvis was crushed, shoulder dislocated, arms/wrist breaks, pneumo thorax and more.... He was bleeding internally. I talked with our general surgeon and he decided to operate. I spoke with Joel again and we had a few minutes of words. He was taken back to surgery to discover his spleen was torn in multiple locations and they removed it. They stopped as much of the bleeding as they could and prepped him to be air lifted to Billings MT for further treatment. As he arrived in Billings he went into cardiac arrest. They were able to revive him, but he had gone without oxygen for a concerning amount of time. He was not stable enough to endure further surgery at that time. They did everything they could, but he went into cardiac arrest again at about 11 pm and was not able to be resuscitated. I was right there all the while held out hope, but sadly God was ready to call him home.
This has been a very trying week and our lives will be much different now. I'm so thankful that God held our two precious girls...one in each hand. Unfortunately he couldn't let go of Joel. I knew right off from the state trooper that the other car was in Joel's lane by a good five feet, but didn't know why. Today we found out that the 44 year old woman driving the other car was text messaging while driving. She died on impact, her two children and one of their friends were in that car. Her kids were hospitalized, the friend was treated and released. I'm thankful that I had a few minutes to talk with Joel and consider that to be nothing less than a miracle, because after seeing the van at the tow lot today I am amazed he wasn't also killed instantly. We had Joel cremated and we are having a memorial service on Tuesday March 25 at 10 am at the First United Methodist Church in Powell WY.
The girls are doing remarkably well. Brooke didn't walk for a couple days because she was pretty bruised and sore. She is moving around much better now. Diane has some visible bruises and her breastbone is sore at times.
I want to tell everyone how thankful I am for the outpouring of support and prayers. We have amazing family, friends and live in a community second to none in terms of outreach. I apologize for not being able to talk to all of you personally yet, but I'm quite overwhelmed with grief, caring for the girls, investigation into the wreck, arrangements for Joel and the memorial.
I also know that this news hasn't been able to get to everyone that I would like to tell and talk to, so should you like to pass it on that is fine.
I ask for continued prayers for the girls, myself, the others injured in the accident and their families.
Rebekah S. Pennington
Rebekah, Brooke and Dianne: I wish I could hug you right now and bring some measure of comfort. We will keep you in our prayers and we are sending love and comfort.
Oh, that makes me just sick to my stomach! My thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Posted by: Andrea | March 21, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Oof. I think I'll go give my husband and son an extra hug.
Posted by: alwen | March 21, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Very sad. My condolences to his family.
Posted by: Kathy N | March 21, 2008 at 11:41 AM
How sad and horrible. Two deaths caused over text messaging. And the fact that the woman was 44 years old, plenty old enough to know better, makes it that much worse. What a brave little girl to get help for her family like that. Her mom should be very proud of her.
Posted by: Laura | March 21, 2008 at 12:55 PM
So sad. I will keep them in my thoughts.
Posted by: Christie | March 21, 2008 at 01:35 PM
What a sad and horrible loss! He sounds like such a wonderful man. My heart goes out to you, Isela.
Posted by: margene | March 21, 2008 at 01:38 PM
How heartbreaking! My thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Posted by: Jennifer | March 21, 2008 at 05:42 PM
How heartbreaking. He sounds like a fabulous person. My prayers go up for his family and friends.
I don't understand why people insist on "multi-tasking" while behind the wheel of a car.
Here in CA it is now illegal to text while driving (as if it should be necessary to have a law - this is just common sense IMO), however, I still see too many drivers who are more concerned with their cell phone than the road.
Huggz
Posted by: Jeannie | March 22, 2008 at 01:23 PM
Oh I can barely see as I type. How SAD. My heart goes out to his family.
:(
Posted by: scoutj | March 22, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Sending huge thoughts of comfort to Rebekah and her girls (and to those who knew Joel).
Posted by: sprite | March 26, 2008 at 03:21 PM