GILROY—’Clouds of sorrow’ hovered over Gilroy in the wake of two car accidents last week that claimed the lives of five residents, including four Gilroy high school girls, three set to graduate next month, and a young father.
In the throes of its the tragedy, the community came together in through vigils to honor the dead, with thousands of people collectively grieving, and through fundraisers to help the families of the deceased cope with grief and manage funeral expenses.
On the nights of May 15 and 18, hundreds descended on the campuses of Gilroy’s Mt. Madonna Continuation High School and Christopher High School to pay tribute to those killed in a May 12 wreck.
Three young women, all 18, including Yesenia Mendoza Pina and Yolanda Jimenez, seniors at Mt. Madonna, and CHS senior Sara Williams, and Joseph Vasquez Flemate, the 24-year-old father of a baby girl, were killed on impact when a Ford Mustang driven by a man suspected of being drunk veered off Leavesley Road at 10:30 p.m.
The driver, Antonio Imbronone III, 23, of Gilroy, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after being treated for serious injuries from the single-vehicle wreck. He was released after he recovered, but was arrested Thursday morning in Gilroy on four felony counts of vehicular homicide and felony DUI before being transferred to Santa Clara County Jail, according to authorities. (Read more about his arrest, which occurred after our publication deadline, by clicking here)
Four days earlier, CHS sophomore Natalia Salcido, 15, was killed in a car accident May 9 when the vehicle she was in with two other CHS students crashed into a tree along Miller Avenue. A May 11 vigil for Salcido at CHS attended by more than 1,000 people, according to school district officials.
“These are dark days—dark days of death covered by the somber clouds of sorrow,” CHS Principal Paul Winslow said at the May 18 vigil. “But it’s our reaction to death that defines our values; it shows our values are true.”
As of press time Wednesday, more than $39,500 on the online fundraiser site GoFundMe was raised for Salcido’s family and tens of thousands of dollars was raised for the families of Mendoza Pina, Jimenez, Williams and Flemate, collectively.
The separate wrecks shook residents, students and staff across all GUSD campuses, deeply impacting those who knew the deceased—whether simply acquaintances or the best of friends.
Vigil attendees said the four car accident victims were best friends, and one said they died with those they loved. But each left behind family, from young brothers and sisters who were notified of their sibling’s passing on the campuses of Gilroy’s three middle schools the day after the wreck, to, in Flemate’s case, a baby girl.
Williams’ niece, Emily, recalled at the vigil spending time with her playing dress up together at their grandmother’s house, attending dance recitals and countless trips to the East coast.
“It sucks how we couldn’t tell her what she meant to us,” she said, next asking those in attendance to pause to share the value of the person standing next to them. “You shouldn’t wait until someone is gone to tell them what they mean to you,” she said”
“You not being here sucks; not seeing you any more sucks,” added Mariah, a CHS senior. “You have no idea how much I wanted to be like you and have the attitude you had. If you can hear me, know you will be missed and have no idea how much love the people here have for you.”
Flemate was “truly loved and cherished by many” including his baby girl Korrina “who is now without her daddy and will grow up without ever really getting to know him,” wrote Barbara Tapia Guillen, a friend who created an online fundraiser to help his mother with funeral expenses.
“I hope that the love he gave her (Korrina) while he was here will live in her little heart forever,” she added.
The high seniors killed May 11 were on track to receive diplomas next month, according to GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores. Instead of each girl walking across the aisle to accept a diploma, their relatives will be issued honorary diplomas, Flores added.
Both Mendoza Pina and Jimenez studied at Gilroy High School prior to attending Mt. Madonna, the superintendent said.
But the five deaths since May 9 were not in vain, one religious leader said at a vigil, because their passing brought people together in love and support and brought an appreciation about the fragility of human life.
Their deaths demonstrated the victims’ “power to touch people and to change lives,” said the Rev. Robert Brocato of Gilroy’s St. Mary Parish. “This is the leverage to gather people together, to make them cry and laugh, to make them remember shared moments and to appreciate friendships. This is the ability to wake people up to see how very precious life is—to tell the truth and tell people you love them.”
The showing of support was not limited to vigils. The Gilroy City Council’s regular meeting May 18 at a packed City Hall silenced almost instantly after the Rev. Greg Quirke of South Valley Community Church asked those in attendance to take a moment to pray for the families of the deceased.
“The community has had a very tough time over this past week,” he said. “Anytime one child is lost it’s one too many. I’m proud to be a Gilroyan and I’m proud of the community; everybody came together and rallied together…we have a lot to be thankful for.”
“The community has had a very tough time over this past week. Anytime one child is lost it’s one too many. I’m proud to be a Gilroyan and I’m proud of the community; everybody came together and rallied together…we have a lot to be thankful for.”
-Greg Quirke, Pastor at South Valley Community Church
