Three children orphaned after ‘beautiful’ parents killed in NSW crash
Three children have been orphaned after their parents were killed when their ute hit a tree last Saturday.
Couple Trish O’Brien, 38 and John Stanton, 40, died on December 16 in the tragic crash, leaving behind three kids just days before Christmas.[1]
Teya, 17, Jack, 14, and Caleb, nine, are being cared for by family members.
Mel Cummins was Trish’s best friend for 11 years. She said everyone is still trying to process the tragedy. “Teya’s trying to obviously step up a little bit more,” she told 9News.com.au
“We’ve taken her so she could do some Christmas shopping for the boys. “They’re relying on each other.”
They worked as farm contractors. John was also a volunteer firefighter with the RFS in Ladysmith, with Trish also helping the organisation.
“When things were needed and fires were being fought Tish got behind that and roped all of us in it,” Cummins said. “She just always had John’s back 100 per cent. If he was fighting a fire she was back here manning things.”
She described her late friend as “beautiful”.
“She had a beautiful sense of humour they both did,” she said. “John was such a character. Both were just beautiful people.
Just happy-go-lucky, go with the flow and very hard working.” Cummins said the local community has been donating Christmas presents for the children.
“They’re a very long-standing family, very well known, the community has rallied,” she said. NSW Police said the crash happened last Saturday at 12 noon at Keajura Road, Ladysmith, near Wagga Wagga.
The couple died at the scene.
“An investigation has commenced into the circumstances surrounding the crash and a report will be prepared for the Coroner,” NSW Police said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to raise money for the family.
References
- ^ crash (www.9news.com.au)
- ^ Wagga Wagga (www.9news.com.au)