A public memorial service has been set for three members of a Denver family killed Dec. 22 when their car crashed in a Wyoming snowstorm.
Killed were political consultant John Parr, 59; his wife, journalist Sandra Widener, 53; and their daughter Chase, 19.
A second daughter, Katy, 17, survived the crash.
The family was traveling to Idaho to visit relatives for the holidays when their car was broadsided by a tractor-trailer in a multivehicle chain of collisions.
Katy has been living with family members in Idaho.
The service will be from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Buell Theatre in Denver. There will be a reception afterward in the lobby.
Peter Kenney, co-founder with John Parr of Civic Results, a public affairs firm, announced the memorial this morning at the governor’s Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel. Parr was a facilitator for the panel.
“Katy is doing very well,” Kenney said. He said she has made a rapid recovery from her injuries and hopes to return next week to Denver, where she can rejoin her friends and resume classes at East High School.
A tribute website has been set up . Visitors to the site can donate to the John Parr and Sandy Widener Community Leadership Award, which has been set up to honor the family. The cash award will be presented each fall at the Denver Foundation’s Tribute to Philanthropy.
A separate event is being held this weekend to raise funds for a trip that Katy plans to make to Israel and the occupied territories this summer.
In what is being billed as an event with “birthday cake and all the hoopla to celebrate Katy’s 18th,” the Student Interfaith Peace Project (SIPP), of which Katy is a member, will hold a fundraiser for her at Flix Neighborhood Cinema and Cafe on Saturday.
“It’s a great way of showing our support for her,” said SIPP facilitator Celeste Archer.
Katy was active in the group before the accident, and because she couldn’t participate in all of the fundraising activities throughout the school year, Flix and SIPP organized the event to help out, Archer said.
Two movies will be shown at the cinema at 2570 E. Colfax Ave. on Saturday. Admission is $10, with $5 going directly to Katy’s trip fund.
The event flier says attendees can sign cards for Katy and that the party will be filmed so she can see them.
“The Kite Runner” starts at 11:30, and “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly” begins at 11:50. Cake, cards and festivities start at 11:00
SIPP is a project of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the University of Denver.
The group “brings interfaith teenagers together to hear each other’s stories,” Archer said.
She said that over the summer, members will be in Israel and the occupied territories for 12 days and will visit a refugee camp, the Wailing Wall, talk with Israeli peacemakers and spend time “growing and listening.”
