HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Hendersonville daycare is mourning the loss of one of their own after a three-vehicle crash claimed the life of 23-year-old Danielle LaPointe.
LaPointe had worked at the Kiddie Academy in Hendersonville for nearly 2 months. The unexpected news came as a shock Thursday morning.
“So I sent Danielle a text message after I called her, and asked her if she was okay that if she was going to be late that that was okay if she could just text me back to let me know that she was okay,” remembered Kiernan Smith, the Executive Director.
Smith explained after a family member of LaPointe’s reached out to her, asking if LaPointe had arrived to work yet. Sadly, Smith would never receive a response to her text message.
“There’s just no words really to put into it, but it was just heartbreaking,” said Smith. “No mother should be without their child, no child should be without their mother.”
Thursday morning, the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) responded to a three-vehicle crash on Highway 31. THP said a 62-year-old woman was driving eastbound when she lost control of the vehicle and crossed the double yellow lines. At the same time, officials said a 31-year-old man was headed westbound and veered into the right lane to avoid hitting the Mustang. The Mustang then sideswiped the Ford truck and hit a Hyundai Accent SUV head-on.
Inside the Hyundai was 23-year-old LaPointe, who died. At the time of the crash, her two children were strapped in, in the backseat.
The loving and young mother is now gone too soon.
“She was very spontaneous and bright. I instantly caught that from her,” described Smith. “She was very radiant, she would sing songs in the classroom, you could hear her singing songs from the classroom from my office actually and it’s just beautiful.”
Inside the Kiddie Academy, LaPointe’s jacket still hangs in the closet, inside her classroom.
“I think that they do know that she’s not there because they’re used to that consistency, they’re used to seeing her in the classroom,” Smith said.
The academy decided to start a GoFundMe page in honor of LaPointe, to help her family with funeral costs, and set up a memorial in her honor.
“Seeing everyone comment and all the phone calls we got, Facebook and social media, everyone has been so amazing with helping and wanting to do more,” Smith said.