Pueblo County mother remembers children lost in Highway 50 car crash

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- February 15th, 2022 is a day Rachel Frazier will never forget. She arrived at the scene of a car crash along Highway 50 and 36th Lane just after 5 P.M. and was told that her grandmother Ada, son Trenton and daughter Mckenzie had been hit by a truck in the middle of the intersection.

Ada and Trenton died on scene, and Mckenzie was flown to a Colorado Springs hospital, where she passed away a day later.

"A mother is not supposed to bury her children," Frazier said. "It's just this heartache I have, I never thought existed and it's been a hard time." 

Three crosses now lie in remembrance. The crosses staked to the ground at the crash site by a complete stranger.

Trenton and Mckenzie's uncle, Justin Fox, praised her strength and courage over the last week and a half.

"The strength that Rachel as shown through this whole thing is just amazing," Fox said. "The process of being in the hospital and knowing your child is not going to make it and still carrying on long enough to go through the donation process. I mean I have two small kids myself and I don't know that I could have done what she did."

For the Frazier and Fox families, the crash site is grim reminder of what could have been if a stop light was installed at the busy intersection at Highway 50 and 36th Lane.

"The first responders, some of them say they won't retire until this is done and make sure that it is done right and make sure that this never happens to anybody else because this kind of tragedy is life altering," Fox said.

Fox told KRDO that other families have reached out to them expressing a similar sentiment, stating they have had family members hurt in crash crashes along the busy highway.

For Frazier, a silver lining is that her daughter was seat belted into her seat, allowing her to remain alive and donate her heart and organs to a little boy in need.

"I'm a proud mom. She had such a strong heart that is now helping a little boy and her heart is still out there beating and I'm just so proud of her," Frazier said.

A fundraiser has been set up for both families. Those details are below.