Thursday, March 28, 2024

GoFundMe launched for memorial on 20th anniversary of young Victoria woman’s death

Share

A fundraising campaign has been launched to remember the young lives that were lost to a car accident in Victoria that happened on November 3rd, 2003.

This November,  20 years will have passed since the deaths of four teenagers, one of whom was carrying an unborn child. 

Chantel Williams was just 17-years-old with an unborn child she was around 14-weeks pregnant with. 

The crash occurred at the intersection of Admirals Road and McKenzie Avenue (McKenzie Interchange) before the intersection was overhauled. 

Chantel was being driven home to her mother Moira Williams when the vehicle tragically crashed, leaving no survivors. 

“What the reports told me was that they hit the meridian and there was four people in the vehicle,” Moira told Victoria Buzz.

“The car was small and I guess it flew over to the other side and it flipped and hit the tree and that’s when she flew out.”

At the time, there was a red light and two women were able to get to the crash site, but there was nothing that could be done for any of the crash’s victims.

(Newspaper clipping showing Chantel and the destroyed vehicle/Vancouver Sun)

“She was a bright light,” said Moira. “She would help anybody and I mean anybody.”

“If you were hurting she was there, if she saw an animal being abused she was there. She was feisty but quiet, so I called her my wild-child.”

Moira said Chantel was so young and had so much opportunity ahead of her. She had dreams of being an actress after having been an extra in a locally shot film and she wanted to become a veterinarian because of her deep love for animals. 

“She was a jokester,” Moira explained. “She knew how much I hated snakes and anytime we were out in the garden she’d find a snake and she’d always chase me with it.”

“She’d always make everybody laugh.”

Before the intersection where Chantel died was redone, Moira had left a cross for her daughter and the other children at the site as well as a memorial garden. 

When construction began on the intersection, the cross and garden were removed and disposed of, leaving Moira broken-hearted. 

Now, since 20 years have passed since her daughter’s death, she wants to have a memorial of some type installed in memory of the young lives lost.

The GoFundMe Moira started can be found here

On November 3rd, 2023, Moira hopes to hold a ceremony at the site of the crash to unveil the new memorial with Chantel’s friends and family in attendance. 

mm
Curtis Blandy
curtis@victoriabuzz.com

Read more

Latest Stories