North Carolina mom coping with daughters’ deaths in highway crash

Regular readers of our blog know that we recently wrote in this space about the pair of North Carolina sisters who were tragically killed in a head-on collision on an interstate highway in Arizona. The mother of the young women earlier this month flew to Phoenix to accept her older daughter’s college degree.

A news report says that many in the audience at the graduation ceremony had tears in their eyes as the grieving mom accepted the diploma for her 20-year-old daughter.

The mom said that her daughter should have been there, jumping with joy at her graduation ceremony. Next year, the mom said, her younger daughter, 18, would have graduated from Western Carolina University.

The younger sister was visiting her older sibling for spring break. The pair was driving to the Grand Canyon to watch the sunrise when they were killed in the crash on Interstate 17.

Law enforcement officials say they are still trying to determine if the driver of the other vehicle in the crash, a 21-year-old man who also died in the violent impact, was impaired at the time he drove the wrong way on the highway.

The girls’ mother said that she was there to represent her daughter who “incredibly hard” for the degree. Said the mom, “I’m excited. I’m sad.”

The mother said her religious beliefs are helping her get through the ordeal. “We move on because we know they’re alive,” she said. “They are living forever. They just beat their mom to it.”