Southeast Colorado community members will memorialize the lives of 57-year-old Howard Mitchell and the five children he had taken in with a funeral planned for Friday at the Eads High School auditorium.
“The Mitchell family would like to thank our community and a wide circle of caring friends who have reached out to our family,” according to a statement released by Bent-Kiowa Counties Emergency Services.
Mitchell was taking 12 special-needs children from a group home he and his wife operated to school in Eads when his 15-seat van that slammed into the back of a semi-tractor trailer in a construction zone.
Also killed were Tayla Mitchell, 10, Jeremy Frank, 17, Austyn Atkinson, 11, Andy Dawson, 13, and Tony Mitchell, 10.
The family also thanked first responders, Flight for Life and hospital personnel who tried to save lives and attended the injured children after the traffic crash Thursday afternoon south of Kit Carson.
The seven other children were hospitalized, but continue to “recover well,” according the Mitchell family’s statement.
None of the children were wearing seatbelts, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
A visitation is planned for Teddy at 4:30 p.m. at Eads High School.
Contributions to the Mitchell Family Memorial Fund can be sent to Kit Carson State Bank, P.O. Box 175, Kit Carson, CO 80825, or to Brown Funeral Home, P.O. Box 432, Eads, CO 81036.
