A funeral service was held in Sarnia Thursday the second person who died in a Thanksgiving weekend three-car fatal crash just outside of Brigden that’s rocked that small Lambton County community and has some pushing for road safety changes.
A funeral service was held in Sarnia Thursday for the second person who died in a Thanksgiving weekend three-car fatal crash just outside of Brigden that’s rocked that small Lambton County community and has some pushing for road safety changes.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Family and friends of Gerald (Gerry) Young gathered at London Road West United Church to honor the life of the 82-year-old Sarnia resident, who died in hospital on Oct. 14, the day after the collision at the corner of Courtright Line and Mandaumin Road in St. Clair Township.
“Gerry will be deeply missed by his family and friends,” his obituary says.
Young was a happily retired superintendent of business with the Lambton Kent District school board for more than 30 years, his obit continues. A former member of the Sarnia Horticultural Society, Young spent the past 28 years doing what he loved the most, surrounding himself in the beauty of nature and gardening, it says.
Young, whose wife died in 2014, was a father, grandfather, great-grandfather and uncle. He was also a member at the east Sarnia church that hosted Thursday’s funeral service.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Two days earlier, hundreds of people flocked to the Brigden Fairgrounds to celebrate the life of Brigden’s Noah Nicholson, 19, who died in the same crash. An online fundraiser has been launched by Nicholson’s cousin to help the family pay for the costs of an upcoming private funeral for the Lambton College student and Lambton County Developmental Services employee.
Also posted online recently is a petition aimed at preventing fatal collisions on Courtright Line by installing safety measures such as rumble strips, roundabouts and four-way stops where the road intersects with Mandaumin and Kimball roads. St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar said he’s seen the petition and received emails, which he’s forwarded to county officials.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott said county council hasn’t met since the crash and won’t meet again until Nov. 6, but pointed out other nearby intersections where there have been calls for change are in the queue for the 2025 budget.
A Lambton OPP prosecutor said Thursday no charges are being laid in the Oct. 13 crash and the driver and the passenger who were in the third vehicle suffered minor injuries.
The collision took place around 2:15 pm on Thanksgiving Sunday, a busy time in Brigden and the surrounding area as thousands head to the community 20 kilometers southeast of Sarnia for the annual Brigden Fair.
This is the second fatal crash on Courtright Line in about a month. A Windsor couple who had just celebrated their 57th anniversary was killed after their vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer at Inwood Road Sept. 11.
To truck, later lauded as a hero, died at that same spot in 2022.
Article content