We had nice weather on the 4th of July 1999, and after the grand finale was over, we were
still laying on our backs watching the sky, and Samantha threw her arms opened
wide, and said, "That It?!", "Thats all there is?!" I remember saying these
very profound words, "All God's things, must come to an end, honey." Little
did I know.
This story begins July 5, 1999. It begins with telling the events prior to the accident, after
the accident and the day of the funeral.
I was at the mall with my mother waiting for my husband, son and daughter to drive up
in the van. My husband's parents lived not that far from there. It was
the day after the 4th of July 1999. Samantha was supposed to go with me that
morning, but she was still a little tired because we had seen the fireworks
the night before, and she didn't get to sleep until much later than usual.
That morning she decided she wanted to stay with her dad and brother. She
just didn't feel like rushing and getting ready. I remember thinking, that it
would probably be just as easy to let her stay for now since there was no
reason she HAD to be there. I also knew that my husband (Lou) had plans to
probably check on his parents that day. His mom is 69, and his dad is 90.
A few years back, Lou had a sister die of colon cancer at the age of 38. He
has one other older sister, but he was their only son. Since he had switched
to UPS a month before, he was home every day, and not on the road 5 or 6
days a week. He had night shift that week starting at 1:30 in the morning,
so there was plenty of time. Since he had to pass by the mall on his way, he
called me on my cell phone to tell me that Samantha wanted to be with me. I
told him fine and that when he got to the mall, just call my cell phone, and
I would come down to get her, then he and Bobby could go on to his parents
farm.
I ended up speaking to Samantha also that day, before they left the
house. I asked her; "did you change your mind honey, and want to come up?"
"Uh Huh", she said. "I just thought about it, and wanted to be with you, that's
all." I told her O. K., then I'll see you soon.
We always said, "love you"
to each other, then bye. I find it ironic, that I spoke with Lou, and
Samantha and they died, but not to Bobby, and he lived. The accident
happened probably 15 minutes from home. From what I understand from Bobby,
Lou got the kids in the van. He remembered, we had a ticket on the
refrigerator, we had bought for a Harley Davidson motorcycle that was to have
been raffled off at our local Walmart, and he wanted to stop in to see what
the winning numbers had been.
Then he went down the road to a little Sheetz store
for some pop. It had been in the 90's the last two days. Lou bought the kids
and himself pop, (he bought her a Mountain Dew, which I did not allow her to
have!) and then they came back up the road, back tracking to go on the back
roads to get there, and less on the highway.
We live in a very rural area.
There are farms, and snakingly winding roads. I found out later that the road
they were on, had a nick name "Tickle Belly Road" for the way it went up and
down over two humps, and around like a roller coaster that makes your stomach
feel like it "jumps and drops" Bobby told me that before that road, his dad
actually meant to go straight on a road, but instead made a turn as if on
his way to work, which is same route. He said to Bobby " damn! I meant to go
straight there, but that's O.K., we can go this way to."
This is what Bobby
says happened next. They went around the first sharp turn, and Samantha's
pop bottle fell over and began to roll to the front of the van. Both Bobby
and his dad reached for it and bumped arms. Lou turned to look at Bobby and
laughed at that. Just then, on the right side of the road, there was Perkey Farm.
The owners of the farm have many cats and it is known that the cats
often cross that road, and there was some overgrown shrubbery over hanging the
road there as well. Bobby did say he saw a cat dart out and cross the road.
The accident happened right below Perkey Farm. Lou was
traveling northbound in the van and the other driver (Andrew Palombo of Pittsburg)
was driving the Mack dump truck traveling southbound.
Bobby said all he remembers seeing, is the grill of the truck,
and "A really bright white golden light". The police report says there was
a head on collision and when both cars stopped they were both in the southbound lane.
The other driver suffered minor injuries.
The speed limit on that road was 35 miles per hour.
The impact was so hard that they didn't even know Samantha was in there until
they went to get Lou out.
They had already called one life flight for Bobby,
since he was already out of the vehicle. They then called another one for
Samantha after they found her, and she was still alive. I was told that she
had hit her head so hard on the right side, against the window of the
sliding door, that her eye was out of its socket. She was sitting behind
Bobby in the passenger seat, on the right. The biggest impact was on the
left side and front. She was wearing a seat belt, which is what killed her.
They told me that it disconnected everything in her tummy like her small
intestines, and colon, that she died from bleeding to death.
But what I'll
never understand is, why was her little bottom sitting on the floor legs to
her left stretched out, under Lou, and her head resting on the seat, all the
while her seat belt was still around her waist! A passerby who crawled in
to help, saw them unbuckle her, and her injuries were consistent with a seat
belt injury. For Lou, the steering wheel was pointed straight to the sky.
They, (the E.M.T.'s and firemen who were on the scene) told me that from the
knees down, his legs were practically amputated. The steering wheel had hit
him in the chest and up to under his lower jaw.
Bobby's head had gone
through the windshield and back in again. His right arm that he had put
straight out in front of him to brace against the dash, was crushed inside
from the impact, and the bones popped out. His mouth also hit the dash and
my sister and I took 4 perfectly formed teeth out of the dash. He had
multiple facial cuts. Thank goodness nothing affected his sight. His right
leg got jammed and popped the hip out of place. He had a concussion and
about 40 or so stitches across his scalp, but under his hairline. I was told
that when the firemen first got on the scene, Bobby was frantically trying
to get back into the van, by feeling his way around to find a way in. He
couldn't see because of all the blood in his eyes, and he knew he couldn't
hear his dad or sister. In fact, I was told that he got very combative when
it came time for him to get on the stretcher. Even before when people were
trying to make him lie down because he was in shock, all he kept saying was
to please, get his dad and sister. He told them to be careful of his dad's back because he
had recently hurt it, and that his sister had a heart valve that wasn't
right and to be careful with them. He didn't want to go unless they
took them first.
Now, my Bobby is such an easy going calm child, that I used
to tell my mother, that he would never die of high blood pressure because he
never got that excited about anything. Any calmer, he'd be in a coma! But
he did rattle off enough phone numbers that they eventually got my dad who
in turn called my mom's cell phone. We were still waiting up the mall.
I was told by the state
police to drive up to their barracks. My mother was with me. They never said
sit done or we have something to tell you, they just went right into it.
"I'm sorry to tell you, but your husband has passed away and your children
have been life flighted!" I was to go directly to Childrens Hospital and
there was no news available on their conditions. It was about a two-hour
drive and all I kept thinking was that God wouldn't take two from me.
My mind hadn't even reached the possibility of all three. I couldn't pray. I
couldn't think. I almost never wanted to get there, because until I did, I
could still have hope. When I got there, I told them who I was, and where
were my children? They told me Bobby was still in surgery, but that they
would get a doctor to talk to me. "Where's My Samantha?" I asked. They told
me to wait they'll get someone. What screamed loudest in all of this is that
no one would even say her name. My mind kept asking and my heart was racing,
Why doesn't somebody say her name?!
It ended being about 4 hours until the doctor
could finally talk to me. No one was allowed to say anything until he spoke.
But when they walk you back into a room, far from everyone with about 12
people and a minister, it's not good. I kept saying to the one lady that I
later found out was a member of Compassionate Friends, a support group for
people that have lost children, "You Know, don't you" She said "yes", but that
she couldn't tell me. When she said that, tears were welling up in her
eyes.
I knew then, but still had hope, since I hadn't really heard yet. Then
the doctor explained all her injuries and what he had done to try to save
her. By this time I had been hyperventilating for hours and I couldn't get my breath.
I know I kept saying NO, NO, NO ......
They asked if I wanted to see her. I did. They told me, I could lay down with her
if I wanted to. I did. She was so cold, and she had a wrapped towel over her
right eye and her head was all bandaged. I crawled up on the table and
wrapped my arms around her, and told her, "Mommy's so sorry, so very, very
sorry...". I wanted to look under the towel at her eye, but I didn't, I was
told not too and I was afraid of what I would see. I held her and cried for
a long time. The place where I held onto her arm, was getting warm from my
hand, and reminded me of how she would get into bed with me in the mornings
sometime just to warm up. I wanted to hold her whole body against mine to
warm her. I wanted to grab her and RUN!, RUN as fast and as far as I could.
If I could just take her home....
My father was making phone calls like to
her biological father and such, and they asked me to decide on a funeral
home, or else they would have to put her in cold storage. My mind had this
strange thought like don't do that, she's not a chicken nugget and besides I
don't want her to be all alone. Most people don't have the names of funeral
homes right off the top of their head, but I did manage to remember one in
our neighborhood that was quite lovely and elegant, if you can describe a
funeral home that way.
I still hadn't seen Bobby yet, and I didn't know
where they took my husband. The accident had happened at 2:15 in the
afternoon. Lou was declared dead at 4:12, I was told at the police station
at 5:15. Samantha was declared dead at 6:12.
When I went in to see Bobby, the first thing he said was," Mommy,
please don't be mad at me, I wasn't wearing my seat belt." Of course I told
him I wasn't mad. He is almost 6 ft. tall, so I don't know if not wearing one
saved his life or not. I still don't know why he wasn't except that most
truck drivers don't in their big rigs and I know my husband didn't always, so
he may have been copying his dad. Either way, I guess it doesn't matter now.
Bobby still didn't know about Samantha and Lou, who he regarded as his
"real" dad, were dead. His biological father was there by now. He never took a lot of
interest in them, and Bobby was asking about them. We have always been very
close, and I was giving him a minute to look in my eyes before I spoke the
words, when his father, from the other side of the room,
blurts out "They didn't make it". His heart rate went up, he was crying so he
couldn't breath right, and we had to leave the room until they got him
quieted down.
Then they let just me back in for a
time. I talked to him for awhile. I told him what I could about his injuries
and theirs, without telling too much, and then I told him, I had to go home,
get some things, but I would be back. He was so afraid to let me go. He did
not want me to leave, but I still needed to find my husband, and have a
quiet moment with him, but I didn't want to tell Bobby that. So I told him I
loved him, and promised to be right back, and that I'd be careful.
His dad
stayed with him until I got back. Bobby is so good hearted and easy going,
that earlier when he had asked for some water, my mother got it for him and
put ice in it, because she thought it would taste better that way. He didn't
want to tell his grandmother, that he had about 3000 exposed nerves in his
mouth and that ICE water hurts. But he told me before I left, to please tell
his grandmother not to put ice in his water for awhile. Later when I told
her, we both laughed and cried at the same time that he was worried about
hurting her feelings, so he didn't say anything. It was a very odd moment to
laugh in the midst of all that horror.
I realize now, it was a form of release. You can only maintain a
level of grief and pain for so long. Even at the worst of it, it sort of ebbs
and flows. I still had my husband to see and there were still arrangements
to be made. My father found out, he was at the coroners. We also had to stop
at his work to tell them why he wasn't at work. It was about 2:30 a.m. now and
there was still so much to do. When we pulled up to the coroners office,
the funeral home car pulled in right behind us, so I had very limited time
there. I think the worst sound I have ever heard in my life, has to be that
huge drawer opening, and the sound of frozen crinkling plastic, being pulled
apart. There my husband was, with a towel placed over his lower mouth, right below
his mustache, and a tag on his chest. I took both of my hands and cupped his
face, and told him, "I know, you are sorry".
Lou was very caring, sensitive and romantic. I try to feel
lucky that I know what it is like to have been truly loved in my life. Some
people look their whole lives and never find what I had.
I buried Samantha in the white frilly communion
dress I had bought her to wear in our wedding. Samantha was buried with her purple feather
boa, and sparkling butterfly jewelry and lots of Barbies. She was buried July 9, 1999.
Lou has a beautiful stone. It
has an eighteen wheel truck on it. It has a fish jumping out of water on the
left hand corner for his love of fishing, on the right hand corner it has a
deer, for his love of hunting. This is at the top. The truck is in the
middlle with the last name PIANTINE in the smoke stack, billowing out from
the truck. In between the smoke and the body of the truck, are two entwined
wedding rings with long ribbons trailing toward the right. Written in the
ribbons are the words, PROUD HUSBAND, FATHER, AND SON the entwined wedding
rings on the right have our wedding date inscribed beside it. September 20,
1997--that happens to also be his mother's birthday. Below the wheels of the
truck is his full name LOUIS JAMES PIANTINE. Below his name is July 12,1955 - july
5,1999.
Samantha's stone along side Lou's stone
has an angel kneeling, facing left, has a butterfly on it on the
left. Underneath the child angel kneeling, has our daughter on earth, an
angel in heaven, underneath that, SAMANTHA JOLENE ROHRBACHER --- May 8, 1990, to
July 5,1999. When you go up to the cemetary, their head
stones are the only rose color stones around, in a sea of grey. They will have their
pictures on there too. Samantha's picture is my favorite of her in her red
costume. The silver design on it looks like fire works, I always loved her
in red. It was her best color. Lou's picture is one of our wedding pictures, in his
tux, where he looked the most handsome I had ever seen him.
-- Rebecca Piantine --
A picture of the van after the July 5, 1999 accident.
The hole in the windshield is where Bobby's head went through. Then
the impact unlatched the door and he was thrown out of the vehicle.
Samantha was sitting here in the passenger seat. The glass window in the
sliding door was shattered where she hit her head on the right side.
