PEACH COUNTY, Ga. — Two Cincinnati residents are dead after a car crash in Peach County, Georgia, earlier this month.
Riverview East Academy said 17-year-old student Mattie Newman and her mother, 48-year-old Melissa Darby, died after a crash. Peach County coroner Kerry Rooks said Newman's father was driving southbound on I-75 when he lost control and drove off the side of the interstate, hitting a guardrail.
Newman was pronounced dead at the scene. Darby was taken to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Newman's father was also taken to the hospital, where he remains in critical condition. The coroner said both Newman and Darby did not have seatbelts on. Newman's father did.
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The news struck the students and staff of Riverview East, where Newman was a junior.
"It was hard, it … so many feelings in all of the different directions, so lots of grief. And then the students really tried to do what they could to do to celebrate Mattie," Principal Becky Wolf said.
Her friends and classmates have gone above and beyond to honor Newman's memory. They decorated her locker, wrote notes, left flowers out in the school's lawn and even held a balloon release.
Wolf said that the school has plans to keep Newman's name and memory alive in the halls of her high school forever.
“We’re going to retire her volleyball number, but we’re also going to put, outside of the school on this little grass mound, we're going to put a bench, a lending library, because Mattie loved to read, and a magnolia tree, because it’s pink," Wolf said.
A GoFundMe has been started by athletic director Wes Gerhardt and teacher Kristen Carter.
In the GoFundMe description, the staff members described Newnab as "kind, empathetic, honest, an amazing and loyal friend."
The fundraiser stated that Mattie was co-captain of the volleyball team, a member of the school's book club and crochet club, and involved in Girls to Women, a group dedicated to supporting sisterhood on campus.
Staff also wrote that Maddie was a stellar student, ranking third in her class. Wolf told WCPO that the 17-year-old planned to have a career in the health care field.
As the students, teachers and staff mourn, Wolf expressed her pride in the kids' ability to persevere and honor their friend.
"The maturity and thoughtfulness that they are displaying is remarkable," said Wolf, commending all the effort put in by her students.
Wolf told us she has spoken with Mattie's grandmother, as the father is still recovering from his injuries.
