2 Victims in Roadway Tragedies Laid to Rest

As the horror of six deaths from accidents Sunday--the latest in an unprecedented 10-day spell of roadway carnage--numbed residents of the high desert communities, two of the earliest victims were buried Monday.

More than 300 friends and family members gathered at Lancaster Baptist Church to mourn Kathryn Marie Ward, 18, of Antelope Acres, who died May 29 after her car was hit head-on by a suspected drunk driver.

At nearby First Baptist Church of Lancaster, about 100 attended a funeral for Jose Manuel Guevara, 16, of Quartz Hill, who was killed in a two-car collision Thursday, when he crossed the center line of the street while delivering newspapers.

Ward died in the second and Guevara in the fourth of six traffic collisions since May 25 that have taken 11 lives, critically injured two and left a 10-year-old girl without a mother. Nine of the dead were 21 or younger.

The calamitous series of accidents--all unrelated and of strikingly dissimilar circumstances--left mourners and community officials in disbelief and something approaching panic.

“Everybody’s scared to drive around town,” said Heather Scullion, 17, a Quartz Hill High School student who attended Kathryn Ward’s funeral. “Everybody’s talking about it. They’re asking, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

“It’s not easy,” said another Quartz Hill student, Chris Gonzales, 16. “You go to sleep every night crying, wondering why it has to happen. Why can’t people stop and think a minute before they get in the car when they’ve been drinking?”

The toll from Sunday’s accidents climbed to six with the death of 10-year-old Darcie Moore Monday morning from injuries she received when a suspected drunk driver hit five children leaving a Palmdale park. A second child, Richard Boydston, 10, died at the scene, and his 6-year-old brother, Steven, remained in critical condition Monday at UCLA Medical Center.

The other accident on Sunday claimed four lives. The name of the fourth, 15-year-old Edgar Dominguez of Palmdale, was released Monday. Dominguez was riding in a car whose driver swerved around a railroad crossing arm trying to beat an oncoming train. The 21-year-old driver, another young man and a 15-year-old girl were also killed. The only surviving passenger, Darwin Caringal, 21, of Los Angeles, was recovering Monday at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, where his condition was upgraded from serious to fair.

“I have never seen it like this before,” said Antelope Valley Union High School District board member Billy Pricer of the multiple tragedies that cast a pall over preparations for mid-June commencement ceremonies. “I think everyone’s in shock. It’s so unbelievable. To have this many tragedies in a row is beyond belief for the kids and the adults. It’s hard to cope.”

Pricer said he had few answers for the many Antelope Valley residents who have asked him what the school district can do to prevent more traffic accidents involving young people. Expanded safety instruction can only do so much, the school board member said. “Finally, the decision is in their hands,” he said.

Pricer notified local principals to prepare to offer additional grief counseling.

Many of the students attending Ward’s funeral wore red ribbons. One student said the purpose was to express condemnation of drunk driving and to pay tribute to their classmate, who was to have been a salutatorian in Quartz Hills’ June 16 graduation.

Inside the church, a closed white casket was placed at the front of the sanctuary. A blue-and-yellow Quartz Hill High School jacket was draped over it, and a color photograph of Ward rested on top. Beside the casket was a “memory board,” decorated with photographs and school mementos.

“In her 18 years, she lived life to her fullest,” said Carry Schmidt, an assistant pastor who conducted the service. “We thank you for the way she lived, for the way she impacted the lives of everyone in this room.”

He eulogized Ward as a tutor, a participant in school sports and a nearly straight-A student who planned to become a physician. Following Ward’s wishes, family members donated her organs to others at the time of her death. Schmidt said her heart went to a 15-year-old girl with an incurable heart condition.

“Somewhere today, because that 15-year-old girl received this gift, received Kathryn’s gift, another family rejoices,” Schmidt said.

Many of the students dabbed their eyes with tissues as church member Dave True sang: “Just think of me, and I’ll be there.”

Most of those who attended the service accompanied the family to nearby Joshua Memorial Park, placing flowers on the casket during a brief graveside service.

There, a family friend, Steve Nelson, read a short tribute to Ward, referring to her work with Students Against Drunk Driving--SADD. “Kathryn is a tutor, and today she is teaching us the hard lesson that drunk drivers kill innocent people,” he wrote. “They terrorize us, and make us afraid to drive our cars on the highways.

“Kathryn is a quiet activist who several years ago pretended to be a victim of a drunk driver in a SADD demonstration at Quartz Hill High School. Today, her quiet spirit cries out to us to end the madness and stop the terrorism of drunk driving on our streets.”

At Monday’s other funeral, two of Jose Guevara’s cousins read poems describing the great loss they felt, said the boy’s aunt, Vilma Cordero.

Officials of Highland High School in west Palmdale described Guevara as a well-liked junior who maintained a 3.5 grade-point average, excelled in art and planned to attend college.

California Highway Patrol officers said Guevara crossed the double yellow line near 150th Street East and Avenue O, striking a car driven by Susan Marie Birawer, 40, of Lake Los Angeles. Birawer was killed and her 10-year-old daughter, Trisha, was injured.

Times staff writers Jeannette DeSantis and Julie Tamaki contributed to this story.