Celebration of Life for Paje Heindl
Thursday, Sept. 3
7 p.m.
Lewisburg United Methodist Church
3147 US-40, Lewisburg
Visitation from 4- 7 p.m. at the church
Nearly 500 people gathered Monday evening at Brookville High School for a vigil for two teenagers who died following a single-car weekend crash that also severely injured two other students.
The audience erupted in applause when a pastor announced that Emily King’s family would donate the Brookville teen’s organs to save other lives. King was a passenger in the car that crashed on South Wolf Creek Pike near Providence Road on around 6 p.m. Friday.
Grief counselors and clergy earlier Monday were in multiple communities offering support to family, friends and classmates of the students.
“The kids are very somber today. There’s a great deal of reverence,” said Brookville Local Schools Superintendent Tim Hopkins. “In a small town like this, a lot of these kids grow up together and start kindergarten together and go through 13 years of school so they know each other.”
Paje Heindl, 18, of Verona was driving the car and died at the scene of the crash. Heindl graduated in May from Tri County High School. King, 17, died Sunday evening at Miami Valley Hospital, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. She was a senior at Brookville High School.
Shannon Foster, 18, a Brookville High School senior, was seriously injured in the crash. Nathan Mowen, 17, a Dixie High School junior, was critically injured.
Brookville Local Schools started making arrangements for counselors and support services for students, teachers and families Friday night, Hopkins said.
“She was a good student,” Hopkins said of King. “(She) had her friends that she was very close with and I think she depicts all of our kids in that she was a part of our community, a part of our school district,” he said.
Aimee King described her daughter as “fun loving and carefree” and someone who “always was herself and never followed the crowd.”
Heindl lost control on S curves on South Wolf Creek Pike before slamming into wooden posts, a bench, and a stone wall, according to the Ohio State Patrol. The car then caught on fire.
“She was a great person to be around. She always had a smile on her face,” said Doug Dunham, principal at Tri County North Middle School and High School. “(She) got along with everybody, and supported all the other students in the building.”
Heindl was a member of the school’s bowling and softball teams. It wasn’t uncommon to see Heindl at many school events, including cheering on her brothers and sisters at athletic events, Dunham said. Her parents were in the stands at Friday night’s game when authorities were notify them of the accident, according to Dunham.
“Her family’s been in the Tri County North area for quite a while. Her dad was one of our coaches, and her brother right now is on our football team,” Dunham added.
Dunham said he believed Heindl had been in the district since kindergarten, and teachers and staff who watched Heindl grow up have been hit hard by the news of her death.
“It’s been a tough, tough day, tough weekend for all of us and we’re working through it together,” he said. “I was proud to be her principal, and she’s going to be missed.”
Dixie High School students, teachers and staff began Monday morning with a moment of silence for Mowen, of New Lebanon.
“Just to kind of send our thoughts and prayers out to him, to help give him strength,” Principal Brad Wolgast said.
Mowen’s mother, Debby Mowen, told the Dayton Daily News on Sunday that her son was in very critical condition and “was left with two broken femurs, a broken wrist, a broken vertebrae, a small spleen injury and then facial fracture which has caused massive swelling as well as he had some chest trauma.”
Nathan Mowen spent the first two years of high school at Dixie High School and is taking classes this year at Miami Valley Career Tech Center, according to Wolgast. He will graduate with a degree from Dixie High School.
“He’s the type of kid that just doesn’t have an enemy. He’s just open to people and well-liked, and did a nice job here. Like I said, always very respectful, very polite, just a nice young man,” Wolgast added.
An update on Mowen’s condition was not available Monday. Foster remains in serious condition.
OSP said Monday investigators are trying to determine the vehicle’s speed and how much braking occurred. It could take up to two weeks to complete the crash report, according to OSP.
Natalie Jovonovich and Kate Bartley contributed to this report.
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