A Lassiter High School rising senior and her father were killed Saturday in a head-on collision in South Georgia while driving home from a family vacation in Florida.
Erica Rountree said her husband Chris, 53, was behind the wheel when their family car was hit by a wrong-way driver on U.S. 441 near Dublin. The woman and her older daughter were seriously injured, but Chris Rountree and 17-year-old Elizabeth “Libby” Rountree did not survive.
“Chris did his absolute best to swerve out of the way, but the driver was going so fast there wasn’t time,” Erica Rountree wrote on a public CaringBridge page set up to provide details on her recovery. “He took the full impact on the driver’s side (and) Libby was sitting behind him.”
According to a crash report obtained Wednesday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Rountree’s Volkswagen Jetta was hit by a GMC Sierra about 4:15 p.m. Saturday. The family was traveling north in a right lane when a Sierra going south in the same lane hit them head-on, the report said.
The Sierra’s 45-year-old driver was also taken to a hospital with serious injuries. The Georgia State Patrol is still investigating the wreck and charges are pending, agency spokeswoman Franka Young told the AJC.
Libby played for the soccer team at Lassiter High School in East Cobb. Her death was confirmed in a Monday letter sent to Lassiter families.
“Libby will be remembered as a generous young lady whose smile, infectious laughter, and artistic abilities brought happiness to many students and teachers at Lassiter,” school principal Chris Richie said in the letter, adding that the student was “well-loved by her peers, coaches, and teachers.”
Erica Rountree said she and her daughter Cate are still recovering in a hospital. The girl has undergone two surgeries to repair a broken leg and shattered pelvis, both of which were successful, her mother said.
She credits both of their lives to her husband’s quick response, his final act as her family’s “protector and shield.”
“I’m not sure how we left behind will manage,” Erica Rountree said in a Monday post on CaringBridge. “That is a big question mark with no answer. But I heard their voices today — his silly dad jokes, her unrestrained giggles, floating through the air. They are giving Cate (and) me strength to continue.”
Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the family’s funeral and hospital expenses. More than $40,000 has been raised as of Wednesday morning, and donations keep pouring in.
A vigil for the Rountree family will be held on Thursday at Mt. Bethel’s Upper Room from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mourners are asked to bring cards of encouragement and join in public prayer.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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