‘I Saw My Daughter; She Never Moved’

The dainty, ruffled white dress from J. C. Penney lies across the sofa of the Branchflower home, its price tag still attached.

Larry and Georgia Branchflower know their daughter, Brandy, 9, would have loved just such a dress.

“She’s been begging me for so long to get one of these. All the girls are wearing them now, “ said Georgia Branchflower of Burbank, blinking back tears.

But Brandy won’t be showing off the dress to her third-grade classmates at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Burbank.

Her parents bought the dress Monday morning for her burial.

Brandy died Sunday in a freak boat racing accident at Irvine Lake. As her parents and brother, Dan, 5, watched, an out-of-control racing boat careened ashore and ran over Brandy, throwing her about 50 feet and killing her almost immediately.

“Danny doesn’t understand why everybody’s crying,” said Georgia Branchflower during an interview in the family’s home Monday. “He says ‘Sissy’s up in heaven. She’s happy.’ ”

Georgia and Larry Branchflower will not soon rid themselves of the image of their daughter’s death.

The family, all boating enthusiasts, had accepted a relative’s invitation to go to the races. They packed blankets and lounge chairs and squeezed into the crowd lining the beach at one end of the course, about 15 feet from the water, said Larry, who works, along with his wife, at his father’s aircraft parts manufacturing plant.

Blanket on Lake Shore

Georgia and Larry Branchflower sat side by side in lounge chairs as Brandy and Dan played beside them on blankets.

“The kids went into the water and I shooed them back onto the blankets when the boat races started,” Georgia Branchflower recalled, sobbing. “I said ‘The boat may hit you.’ I never expected it to really happen.”

Suddenly, Larry Branchflower said, “We saw this guy speeding out of control.”

“He was coming in straight at our beach chairs and our blanket. The guy in the boat was standing up, tilting, like he was trying to tip it or ready to jump,” Georgia Branchflower said.

“I didn’t want to yell at the children because I was afraid they would run straight into the boat. I started running, then I realized I had left my children back there,” she said, between sobs.

Little Brother Ran

“Dan was fast. He ran away. I turned. I saw my daughter. She never moved. I can understand because I didn’t move at first.”

Her husband put a reassuring hand on his wife’s knee as he picked up the story:

“He just ran right over her and separated her,” Larry Branchflower said.

“We ran to her,” his wife added. “Her chest was up in one spot and her legs in another.”

“Larry stopped me from hugging her and getting near her. People started pushing me away,” she said, unable to continue.

Red-eyed, sober-faced relatives and friends filed into the Branchflowers’ small stucco house from the quiet, tree-lined street. The phone rang every few minutes, as others called to comfort the family.

The Branchflowers are a close family. “We don’t leave the house or come in the house without saying ‘I love you,’ ” Larry Branchflower said.

Protective Parents

They tried to take few risks with their children’s safety, and maybe were even a little too protective, both parents said.

“We don’t let the kids go out in the front yard and play or ride their bikes on the street or walk to school,” Georgia Branchflower said.

Brandy loved boating, her parents said. The family keeps a boat at Lake Havasu City, Ariz., where they spend many weekends and every vacation. Brandy was a good swimmer and loved riding behind the boat on a fiberglass body-surfing board.

After Sunday’s accident, it will be difficult for the family to return to Lake Havasu. “I imagine it will take a year or two before we are ready,” said Larry Branchflower.

Brandy was enthusiastic about and good at math, reading, spelling and sports such as softball and gymnastics, and she was popular.

Remembered as ‘Sweet’

“There is no one that doesn’t like her,” Georgia Branchflower said. “She got along well with all the kids. “

(The principal of Brandy’s school, Joan Prigian, described her as “a lovely girl, very sweet and always a smile on her face.”)

The Branchflowers say they are not angry with the boat’s driver, but they do blame race officials and plan to sue them.

“That whole beach area was crowded with people blanket to blanket. There were no partitions, no signs, nothing,” Larry Branchflower said.

“There was nobody that told us we weren’t supposed to be down there.” he said.