Father speaks about daughter's death and importance of seatbelts

Buckle Up Blue Ribbon Campaign assemblies took place last week at Mineral County high schools. Pat Goldhahn gave a tearful reminder to student’s at all three schools to buckle up when driving, even if it’s a short drive down the street.

His 15-year old daughter, Lauryn, died in a horrific accident when a truck she was riding in, rolled on a dirt road a mile out of the small town of Fairfield, where they lived. The accident happened last August, where the driver, a friend of Lauryn’s, was speeding 65 mph. She lost control and went through a barbed wire fence, and the truck rolled three times before it was wrapped around a power pole. Neither of the passengers were buckled up, her father said, and his daughter was flung 148 feet from the vehicle.

“Lauryn wore her seatbelt all the time,” her father said, “I don’t know why she chose not to where one that night.”

The driver survived with only a broken leg. Lauryn lived for three days, but was declared brain dead on Aug. 27.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, to get that call,” he said as he recounted that night to a somber crowd. Several student wiped away tears as he talked about his daughter, who played sports, hunted, and made friends easily.

“A child is the greatest gift ever,” he said, “don’t under estimate how unique you are. We were blessed for 15 years and she provided me with so many memories and laughter. I never knew how many people she had touched until she was gone.”

Lauryn was flown to Harborview in Seattle, where her mother Windie, and big sister, Allix, and Pat sat with her in the hospital room. Photos of Lauryn were shown in a slide show during Wednesday’s presentation. A pretty petite girl, with shoulder length brown hair, smiling in her team jersey while holding a volleyball. School photos, and pictures of her doing various activities with family and friends. The mangled, white pickup truck, after the accident. A photo of her hair wrapped around the rearview mirror, that her father retrieved after the accident.

Then photos of the hospital bed, where she was hooked up to tubes, unconscious and fighting for her life. Several times during the presentation, Pat had to stop and take a breath. Trying to regain composure as he relived that tragedy, only four short months ago.

“It’s therapeutic,” he said after the presentation, “I’m amazed at how many people have had similar experiences and want to talk about it.”

He explained to the audience about how her organs were donated, including her heart, eyes, soft tissue, and bone. Eventually, he and his wife will have the opportunity to meet some of the donors who received the gift of life from Lauryn.

Pat was a coach and now has a construction company. He had coached Red Lodge’s basketball team and it was team members and their coach, Darcy Stracke, who came up with the idea of handing out blue ribbons to their opponents during the games. The ribbons are to be tied to the steering wheel, as a reminder to buckle up.

The ribbons are blue for the Fairfield Eagles’ school color, but it was also Lauryn’s favorite color. The campaign has spread to 43 states and Canada with more than 60,000 ribbons given out to-date. They are available online at #buckleupblue4Lauryn.

Her father travels with memorabilia, including photos of Lauryn in her volleyball jersey, her actual number five blue jersey, framed with the words “Laugh, Live, Love” printed on it. Along with a memory box which includes her cremated remains.

As part of the presentation, the song “Better Place,” by Rachel Platten played, which was the song played while her organs were harvested, according to the operating room technician. Another song, “Jealous of the Angels”, by Donna Taggert, was also played. It was a song sung by her sister at the celebration of life ceremony in Fairfield last September.

Mineral Community Hospital CEO, Ron Gleason has been friends with the Goldhahn family for years, when he was CEO at the hospital in Chester, and Pat coached at Chester-Joplin-Inverness.

“It was a really emotionally draining day,” Gleason said, “listening to Pat talk about it and seeing the emotion from some of the kids, this really had an impact on them.”

Pat said he will continue to travel and speak about the incident, as long as there is a need for it. He has been giving presentations since December, starting in the Great Falls area. He said he will be traveling to Wyoming next.

There is also five, $500 scholarships available in Lauryn’s name and he encouraged all seniors to apply for it.

Gleason, Goldhahn, Superior senior, Taryn Ververis, along with his mother, Stacey, traveled to Helena last week to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. They spoke in support of a bill called “Lauryn’s Law”, that would establish a primary seat belt law in Montana. The measure was voted down 7-4.