The MacLean family is in mourning, having lost both their patriarch and matriarch after their vehicle was hit by an alleged impaired driver back in May.
Tamie McLean remembers getting a phone call from her sister-in-law while she was eating dinner the night of the crash.
“They just said Dad had a cut on his head and was bleeding,” she recalled.
She said her in-laws had gone to pick up their grandson and great-grandson in Slave Lake earlier in the day. They were all going for dinner, Walter McLean’s favourite, lasagna.
“Maybe about 15 minutes later, they called and said he was gone. It was like, ‘Are you sure?’ I couldn’t even tell my husband.”
Walter was 75 years old. The van he was driving was struck by a truck going the wrong way down a one-way road near 100 Avenue and 167 Street.
Walter’s 69-year-old wife, Doreen, their 33-year-old grandson and their three-year-old great-grandson were also in the van. All of them were injured and taken to hospital.
READ MORE: Man dead, 4 people injured after head-on crash in west Edmonton: AHS
“On May 27th, our family was forever broken by somebody who chose to drink and drive,” Tamie said.
“Those actions were something my father-in-law had no control over.”
Tamie said even in her father-in-law’s final moments, he protected his family.
“He turned his wheel to take the brunt of the impact to save his grandson behind him,” Tamie explained.
“His soulmate, Doreen, was also with him and had to watch him take his last breaths. She was never the same.”
Tamie said her mother-in-law’s leg was badly injured, with a lot of swelling and bruising — but more than that, her heart was broken.
“July 10th, she suffered a massive stroke, requiring emergency brain surgery.”
Tamie said doctors can’t say with certainty that the stroke was a result of the crash, because Doreen didn’t have a scan done, but the family believes it’s all connected.
Doreen died July 19th.
“They were together for 54 years and apart for 54 days,” Tamie said.
Over the span of their life together, the couple had five children, 26 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
Walter and Doreen were from Fort Vermilion, but had been living in Edmonton.
“She kept telling people that Walter was coming to get her. It’s a love story – she literally could not live without him,” Tamie said
“If there’s any comfort in this, that’s what it is. Knowing that they’ll be together forever.”
Tamie ran the gamut of emotions over the last few months: anger, sadness and shock. She says the preventable nature of the crash, the alleged drinking and driving, makes it even more tragic.
Walter and Doreen’s three-year-old great-grandson is doing well, Tamie said. His father is struggling.
“The 33-year-old, he has some neck pain, some back pain, that type of stuff – and trauma, of course. Emotional trauma for them both.”
READ MORE: Impaired driving charges laid in fatal west Edmonton collision
Police charged 29-year old Ebraheem Jomha with impaired driving causing death, impaired driving over 80 mg causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, impaired driving over 80 mg causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Jomha is out on bail, but is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 21.
“I just hope justice is served and no other family has to go through this again. Like, we’ll never get them back,” Tamie said.