The Dublin community is rallying around a local family who suffered tragedy in a Sept. 28 accident on Highway 377 near Bluff Dale.
According to a preliminary report by a DPS trooper, Charmon Cassie Kent, 41, was driving a 2015 Kia Soul with her two daughters, one 8 and the other 6, when it hydroplaned at around 3:20 p.m..
The vehicle reportedly crossed into the oncoming lane and struck a northbound 2016 Ford F-550 head on.
The collision killed Kent and the eight year old passenger in the Kia, according to DPS. A six year old passenger sustained undisclosed injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
The driver of the Ford, Payton S. Shipman, 36, and a 19-year-old passenger, both from Stephenville, were not injured.
Kent and her daughters, Prezsley and Charley, are well-known in the Dublin community as Charmon is a stylist at Rumors Salon & Boutique and her mother is Dubliner Nancy Martin.
Rumors’ owner Amanda Spann has created an online fundraiser in an effort to help the family with the cost of the funerals and hospital bills as Charley fights. Donation links and updates can be found on the Facebook page, ‘Help Amanda’s memorial/loss fundraiser.'
As of Tuesday morning, $5,140 had been donated to the page.
“Charmon and the girls were very close to us,” Spann wrote on the fundraiser page. “She started out as someone asking for a job and turned into family. Losing her and one of the girls is heart breaking and not knowing the outcome of the other is hard.”
Spann said she is also organizing a cornhole bean bag toss tournament as well as a silent auction to help the family with costs.
For more information or to donate money or items to the cause, Spann can be reached at (254) 485- 1400.
Kent’s service was held Wednesday at Harrell Memorial Chapel.