From Deseret News archives:
4 lives changed in an instant
One family is mourning the loss of a 28-year-old father of two who was killed in the accident on I-15. The other family is hoping that a 20-year-old new bride will soon wake from the coma she has been in since the accident.
Both families are relying on faith to help them cope.
It was June 1 when Thad Goodman was driving from work in American Fork to his Taylorsville home to have lunch with his wife, Susan, and their two girls, Hannah, 2 1/2, and Ivy — who was turning 6 months old that day.
The same day, Tara and Josh Berendes had been married 10 days. They were moving from their native California to Colorado in a sport-utility vehicle filled with wedding gifts.
Tara Berendes graduated from Colorado Christian University on May 5 with a degree in psychology and was planning to pursue a master's degree in the same field. Her husband, Josh, 23, recently took a job as a youth minister at a non-denominational Christian church in Littleton, Colo.
The Goodmans were beginning a new chapter in their life together, too. They found a contractor to build a new house in Eagle Mountain, Utah County. They had a new baby. Thad had found a career he loved. "He was really happy in the last year," said his mother, Shari Goodman.
But the dreams of each couple came to an end that day at 1 p.m. on I-15 near the Point of the Mountain.
Goodman's northbound car went across the median into southbound lanes. His car collided with the Berendes' sport-utility vehicle head-on.
Goodman, 28, was killed instantly.
Tara Berendes, 20, is in a coma. She suffers from tears in her diaphragm and spleen, a clot in her kidney and brain shearing, said her father, John Eichinger. The long-term effect of the injuries remains unknown.
Josh Berendes has been released from the hospital. "He suffered a broken collar bone. He fractured some bones in his hand because he had to punch his way to get out of the car," Eichinger said.
The Utah Highway Patrol continues to investigate what caused Thad Goodman to cross into opposite lanes of traffic, UHP spokeswoman Tammy Palmer said.
Within days of the accident, the families began talking by telephone.
John Eichinger does not want people to forget the pain of loss felt by the Goodman family. Frank Goodman, Thad's father, said he understands what the other family is experiencing because Thad was injured in an accident when he was 12 years old that also left him in a coma. He had to re-learn speech and some social skills. He never regained his senses of smell or taste because of the accident, Frank Goodman said.
