`I Guess God Just Takes The Good Ones Early'
-- EVERETT
Janeen Byrnes rubbed the tears from her face, took a deep breath and leaned her elbows on her knees. The sun poured over her face as she sat on her front porch in Everett. Tears formed again in her eyes.
She tried to finish her sentence, but stopped short.
On Saturday, her daughter Jennifer Lee Olive, 18, died of injuries she suffered in a head-on accident about 45 miles south of Olympia. The crash killed Olive and three others as they drove from their homes in Snohomish County to a Volkswagen fair in Oregon in a 1965 VW squareback.
In another two months, Jenni-
fer would have begun classes at Edmonds Community College. Her twin sister, Joy, was going to start there with her.
``It just wasn't supposed to happen this way,'' Byrnes said, shaking her head. ``I guess God just takes the good ones early, I don't know.''
A witness told investigators a 1976 Regal Buick ran through a stop sign, colliding with the Volkswagen at a rural intersection on Meier Road about 45 miles south of Olympia. Both cars overturned, came to rest on their tops and were totaled.
All four people in the Buick suffered injuries, with one listed in serious condition late Monday.
None of the eight was wearing a seat belt.
Those in the Volkswagen, all ejected in the crash, were Olive; her boyfriend, Lawrence Curtis Bruce, 20, of Everett, the owner of the car; his brother Lorenzo Robert Bruce, 23, of Mill Creek; and their friend Mayumi Paull, 18, of Everett.
The three passengers in the Buick, driven by Douglas McClure, 20, were of Lewis County, where the accident occurred. One passenger, Steven Maggard, 19, of Toledo, was treated at Emmanuel Hospital in Portland and released. Maggard's sister, Janet Extine, 25, of Toledo, was listed in serious condition Monday night at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Their brother, Michael Maggard, 20, was treated at Providence Hospital in Centralia and released. McClure was released Sunday from Providence.
``We're not blaming anybody. It's all said and done,'' said Olive's stepfather, Steve Provo. ``I just don't think any of us can really believe it's happened. . . . You don't want to believe it.''
Damage was so extensive to both vehicles that officers said they could not at first identify the Volkswagen as a Beetle or a Karmann Ghia.
Apparently, it was neither. ``It was so wrecked they couldn't tell what it was, I guess,'' Provo said. ``It was an old squareback VW that Curt fixed up and worked on. He could do just about anything.''
But when his VW came face to face with the Buick, officers said, no one could have done much of anything.
``The Volkswagen didn't stand a chance,'' said State Patrol officer Jim Eagon. ``It didn't matter what kind of Volkswagen. It wasn't going to make a bit of difference running into a Buick.''
Provo and Byrnes described Bruce as a tall, regal man, a skateboard and VW enthusiast, and a musician in the band Big Top. His brother also was a musician.
The Bruce brothers are survived by their father, Bob Bruce; their brother, Darran; their mother, Anna Beth McVey-Bruce of Los Angeles, and their stepmother, Denise Bruce of Everett.
Olive is survived by her father, mother, stepfather, twin sister and younger brother.