MADAWASKA, Maine — On Monday morning, Kim Lausier of Madawaska, who was 8 months pregnant, was heading south on Route 161 to a prenatal doctor’s appointment in Central Aroostook.
In the SUV with her was her husband, Robert Lausier, 53, a man one friend described as Kim Lausier’s “Prince Charming.”
Heading north at the same time was Bobbi-Jo Johnston, 33, of Fort Fairfield, traveling with her 2-year-old daughter, Alana A. Nelson, and her mother, Laurie Ann Johnston of Carlingford, New Brunswick.
Just before 10:30 a.m. on a straight stretch of road near Madawaska Lake, about 15 miles north of Caribou, Kim Lausier, 38, attempted to pass a tractor-trailer and struck Bobbi-Jo Johnston’s sedan head-on, according to police.
Robert Lausier was the only survivor of the accident and, according to the Maine State Police, was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on Monday with serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
On Tuesday, friends and family were left grappling with the sudden loss.
“I am still trying to wrap my head around this tragic loss,” Johnston family friend Debi-Jo Bishop Woolard said Tuesday. “Bobbi-Jo lit the world up with her beautiful smile, [and] she loved all creatures, especially horses.”
Linda Langley, a cousin of Laurie Ann Johnston, said Tuesday afternoon that she grew up with the 52-year-old.
“Her daughter and her grandkids were her life, along with their horses. Their whole lives were about family, and everybody they met became family,” Langley said.
Langley last saw the family on Sunday and remembers Alana wanting to stay at her home awhile longer.
“Anybody who ever met Alana just loved her,” she said. “She was so bubbly and happy.”
Bobbi-Jo, Langley said, was one of those people who always found something good in life and was a frequent visitor to her home.
“I will never stop waiting for [Bobbi-Jo] to come through my door,” she said. “I’ll keep hearing her say, ‘I need an ear, some coffee and some cookies.’”
The Johnstons boarded several horses at Rocking S. Ranch Inc. in Fort Fairfield.
“Bobbi-Jo was a very important part of our Rocking S family,” Steve Ulman, ranch president, said Tuesday from Texas. “She will very much be missed.”
Ulman said Bobbi-Jo Johnston had been working with horses at the ranch since she was in high school and was instrumental in introducing many young people to horsemanship.
Betty Hafford-Hogue of East Millinocket said her granddaughter was one of those youngsters.
“Bobbi-Jo was my daughter’s best friend,” Hafford-Hogue said Tuesday. “She gave my granddaughter her first ‘horsey’ ride, [and] she was kind, thoughtful [and] a loving mother, loyal friend and just an all-around wonderful young lady.”
Kim and Robert Lausier were on their way to see a doctor and preparing to welcome a baby girl in another month, according to Kim Lausier’s friend Stacie Coltart of Madawaska.
“Kim was 32 weeks pregnant as of yesterday,” Coltart said Tuesday morning. “I keep thinking of Bob, who has just lost his wife and little girl in a second.”
The couple had been looking forward to the new addition to the family, Coltart said, especially after Lausier miscarried with twins a year ago.
She has two children — Celeste, 15, and Cameron, 12 — from a previous marriage, who are staying with their maternal grandmother.
“I keep saying that Jesus had said those little twins were crying in heaven and needed their mom,” Coltart said. “Now she is up there with all three, and I am here to be with the other two.”
For many in the tight-knit community of Madawaska, the Lausiers’ unborn daughter is the fifth victim of the accident.
Because Lausier had not yet given birth, the unborn child is not included among the official victims, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
“There has to be a live birth for it to be classified as a death,” McCausland said Tuesday. “The accident is counted as a quadruple [fatal] because the child had not been born yet.”
In an effort to help the Lausier family with funeral, medical and other expenses, Coltart has started a GoFundMe page, which had raised $3,300 by early Tuesday afternoon.
Fingering a silver angel charm that had fallen from her bracelet while talking about her friend, Coltart said Lausier had a beautiful soul and was a true friend.
“When she’d talk she’d always start by saying, ‘This is a funny story,’ and sometimes it really would not be that funny,” Coltart said. “I’d tell her, ‘Kim, I’m the funny one, and you’re the cute one, get it straight.’”
Lausier worked as a supervisor at the Madawaska Tim Hortons, where on Tuesday, owner Scottie Bragdon talked with employees about her death and shared in their grief.
“Kim was always there for us,” Bragdon said. “She was an amazing woman with a heart of gold.”
Bragdon said the mood was somber Tuesday morning at the restaurant and he had spoken to the employees and thanked them for coming in to work on such a sad day.
“I think if we were not making doughnuts or pouring coffee, we’d be in a worse state,” he said. “It’s cliche, but I know it’s what Kim would want us to do.”
Frenchville residents Judy and Ross Paradis were stopping in for a coffee early Tuesday afternoon and remembered the woman Judy Paradis said she had known all her life.
“Kim always wanted to do right,” said Paradis, who attended the Lauisers’ wedding five years ago. “She was so happy with Bob [Lausier] and had really found her Prince Charming.”
Star-Herald writer Kathy McCarty contributed to this report.
