Monday, February 16, 2004

PARMA -- The weekend of Audrey Black's death, she was doing things for the people she loved.

She helped wait tables for a Valentine's dinner at Parma Church of the Nazarene. She called home and left a message for her mom. "I love you," she said. Audrey, 13, and her younger sister put lipstick kisses on a home-made Valentine. And then she was gone.

A fast-moving train struck a wagon carrying two girls riding on hay bales Saturday. Audrey was killed; her sister, Riley, critically injured.

Al Showalter, chief deputy with the Canyon County Sheriff's Office, said the two girls were visiting their grandparents.

"The family decided to move some horses to a nearby pasture," a sheriff's press release said. "As the horses were led north across the railroad tracks on a gravel lane, a train was spotted approaching the crossing."

The sisters were riding in a wagon behind a tractor driven by Clarence Derrick, 79. Investigators say signals to alert Derrick went unheeded. The tractor crossed the intersection, putting the trailer in the center of the tracks when the train struck.

Witnesses said both girls were thrown more than 100 feet.

Riley, 8, was taken by helicopter to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where she was in intensive care Sunday. A family member reported Riley is expected to recover.

Audrey, an honor roll student at Kuna Middle School, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The family has not yet made arrangements for a memorial service.

Dianna Wynia said her granddaughter often came to visit on weekends.

"She was so grown up for her age," Wynia said. "She loved to come out to the ranch."

And Wynia said she hopes something good might come out of the tragedy.

"It has to mean something," Wynia said. "She loved God. She was an angel."

Find more at the
Idaho Press-Tribune.

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