The word “remember” on Brevan Pritchett’s black bracelet became an acronym this weekend: Remember every moment, especially Morgan Buchli’s everlasting righteousness.
The teen came up with the acronym to remember his lifelong friend, who died in a car crash Friday afternoon, Morgan’s parents said.
“She was a perfect angel,” Tim Buchli said of his oldest daughter. “She was just a sweetheart.”
The 13-year-old was returning from a trip organized by her church’s youth group to Martin’s Cove, Wyo. The place is a sacred spot for Mormons, marking where a group bound for Salt Lake City was stranded by storms in 1856, said Bryan Thomas, a church official .
The Littleton teen was in the last vehicle of the group. It lagged because it was hauling a trailer, Thomas said.
The rest of the estimated 70 youths and adults, including Morgan’s father, were nearly in Denver before they heard that the 2005 Dodge pickup she and four others were riding in had plunged over the guardrail of Interstate 80, landing on its roof in the embankment below.
“Obviously this has been devastating for the family but also for the entire congregation,” Thomas said.
The Sunday meeting at the Dakota Ridge Ward was somber, and members remembered Morgan for her faith, her smile and her love of tennis, church officials said.
“She loved her family; she loved her church – she was just a remarkable young woman,” Bishop Brett Ballantyne said.
Morgan was going into eighth grade at Summit Ridge Middle School this fall.
Her parents called her “Mo-pova” because she idolized tennis player Maria Sharapova. She was ranked fifth in the state in her age group for girls singles tennis players and had hoped to play in college, said her mother, Roxanne Buchli.
Erica Simmons, a friend of Morgan’s and daughter of the driver, Michael Simmons, said she was still shaken. She remembered Morgan as shy but easy to talk to.
“She’s just a happy-go-lucky girl,” said Simmons, 18. “She was awesome.”
Morgan’s parents said they know she is in a better place and they will see her again.
“We all have such great faith, and we know that God wanted her and needed her,” Roxanne Buchli said.
Many of her friends have met almost every night since the crash to grieve and talk, her parents said.
Investigators have not determined the cause of the crash. Weather and road conditions have been ruled out as factors, and investigators will now focus on the driver, said Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Gaylan Wright.
The other crash victims are recovering.
Mallory McLean, 12, is in fair condition, and Haley Holt, 14, is in good condition, according to The Children’s Hospital in Denver. Mallory broke her back, and Haley broke her collarbone and neck, Ballantyne said.
Myrlen McLean, 47, and Michael Simmons, 55, were taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. Both are in fair condition.
Simmons was treated for broken ribs and is expected to be released soon, and McLean, Mallory’s mother, will be transferred to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood for surgery on her back, Ballantyne said.
All five were wearing their seat belts, Wright said.
