Remembering Jen-9 years later

On January 12, 2002 I lost my best friend. 9 years later I still think about her all the time. I have said this time and again but I only knew her for 3 months but those were the best 3 months of my life.

I still remember that when Jennifer Hawkins started at KRTV Channel 3, I did my best to avoid talking to her at first. My natural shyness was in full effect at the time. She had just started working in her new town Great Falls, Montana after graduating from Ball State in Indianapolis, IN.

The start of her career was not the way she had pictured it, it was difficult and she was having to make an adjustment to life in a small town. In her first few days she was still working on making new friends and also dealing with having a flat tire in October in Montana.

I first started talking to her as I was walking with her to the studio to shoot ID's and the all important web photo. I made the comment that she had to be the quietest reporter I had ever met because she didn't say a word at first. She replied that I just didn't know her yet and if I did get to know her she would talk my ear off. She was right.

We eventually exchanged numbers and I told her to call my anytime she wanted to go to lunch or see a movie or whatever. I said I was always more than willing to do that. Literally the next day she called me and told me to take her to lunch! I loved it because up until that time I just stayed at home and played video games and watched movies. I never was one for going out and obviously never one to put himself out there.

The friendship always continued to grow from there, she told me that for the meals that we would do like they did in Indianapolis.... we'd take turns paying. So that's what we did and everytime she forgot who's turn it was, I'd always say oh it's my turn.

Our first lunch date was to Bert & Ernie's where after knowing me for all of 30 seconds she told me a secret about an activity that she had done that she knew would probably get her in a little hot water. I told her I would never tell anyone and I didn't. Even when everyone learned of it a month or so down the line. Great Falls is a small town and no secret can last for long there, but a bond made between two friends there can be made for an eternity.

I remember there was a week that I had taken off for vacation and we had made plans for me to come back to work and help her with stuff. Well then my sister and my boss got involved and I was told that I was not allowed to come to work when I was on vacation! Still though I snuck up to work only long enough to take Jennifer out to lunch. I believe Lost Woodsman was one of the places we went once or twice during that week. She loved that place.

She really worked hard to break me out of my shell and I definitely became a different person thanks to her. One of the lessons I still keep in my mind every day was the one she taught me about our co-worker Scott.

Scott was one of her friends and to me he was just a co-worker. Scott made my life as a director difficult with his late tapes and crazy rundowns. Well I used to hold on to the anger/frustration with him that I had and would never even give him the time of the day on a day to day basis. Jennifer told me one day that I really needed to give Scott another chance because he was a good guy and he wanted to be my friend. I just needed to give him another chance. Well I never really heeded those words until after she passed. It was at that point I gave Scott another chance or two, we actually even hung out once or twice. He was and is a good guy. The lesson Jen taught me was to give people a NEW chance every day. They may fail but at least you're being the better person and giving them the chance.

The last day I ever saw Jen was a day when we were at work and we had gone to lunch at Burger King of all places. I remember placing the order and she asked for her Whopper Jr. cut in half. I had never heard of this and questioned if you could really ask for that. She told me, yes because she used to work at a Burger King and it's your way right away.

The next day I went in to work, the weekend crew was all a buzz because there was a huge sandstorm on the highway between Showdown Ski resort and Great Falls. There was a 6 to 10 car pileup and the crew was excited for real news. We were trying to get in contact with our crew Dave Gerdrum and Jennifer because they wanted them to stop and get video of it. As I was walking past the newsroom I looked in and saw our news director Joel Lundstad on the phone and then he put his head in his hands.

I went in and he said, "we lost them"... I was confused and then he ellaborated and said that it was Dave & Jen that were killed in the accident. They were crushed between two semi trucks. After that I walked outside of the station and sang "Hero" by Mariah Carey for some reason. Jen was a big fan of Mariah Carey she actually used to sing it in the car. I never really figured out why I sang that song but I think it's because to this day she will always be my best friend and my hero.

I will never forget Jen and I'm happy to say I never had one negative memory of her. She was a great soul and I remember her parents telling me at her funeral how much she had started to love her job. She had thought she would never get it and was trying to figure out what else she could do. Well she came into her own and although not a lot of people won't remember her, she made a lasting impression on me, I will remember her and she'll be in my heart always.

I miss you Jen, I will never forget you.



The Accident Scene




Dave Gerdrum-Photographer



Jennifer (Hinderliter) Hawkins-Reporter

Here is the story as written by the Great Falls Tribune 1-13-02
Sunday, January 13, 2002

KRTV reporter, photographer die in 12-vehicle pileup near Belt
By SONJA LEE
Tribune Staff Writer


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A dust storm kicked up by Saturday's 50-plus-mph winds created brown-out conditions near Belt causing a 12-car pileup that killed two people and sent at least four people to the hospital with minor injuries.
KRTV television reporter Jennifer Hawkins, 22, and part-time KRTV photographer David Gerdrum, 48, were killed in the crash, which involved three eastbound and westbound semi-tractor trailers on Highway 87/89 about five miles west of Belt.

Bob Rosipal, Cascade County deputy sheriff's coroner said the accident occurred near the Enger cutoff around 1:20 p.m. when a westbound semi with Missouri license tags slowed down after a dust storm limited visibility to less than 10 feet. Directly behind, the KRTV Suburu Forester apparently was slowing down when it was was rear-ended and pushed into the semi by a second semi driven by Brett Likes of Idaho. At least six additional vehicles, including two trucks pulling horse trailers piled into the westbound truck.

Another accident occurred at the same time in the same stretch of road in the eastbound lane when a pickup truck slowed down because of the dust. A GMC Jimmy hit the pickup from behind and a third big rig barreling down the highway struck the eastbound traffic, Rosipal said. The Jimmy spun around into the westbound traffic, already snarled from the westbound string of accidents, and the pickup went off the road into a shallow ditch.

"It was tremendous. The scene was just a mess," said Rosipal, who has been with the department for the last nine years. "This was the worst accident I have ever been on."

The driver of the Jimmy and his passenger were taken to Benefis East and will be kept overnight for observation, he said. Likes suffered back and neck injuries and cuts and bruises. Likes was listed in fair condition at Benefis and kept overnight. Another unidentified woman involved in the westbound accident also was taken to Benefis with minor injuries.

No citations have issued and the accident still is under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

Firetrucks, ambulances and other rescue crews fought through limited visibility to reach the scene. Emergency personnel requested goggles as winds kicked up thick layers of black dust from a nearby field, where about 75 acres had burned in a fire last summer.

Rosipal said that the dust poured off of several nearby plowed fields, not just the burned area.

"My eyes are trashed," Rosipal said. "And even when we were coming back into Great Falls, it still looked like thunderstorms with all that wind and dirt."

Dirt drifted in behind the snow fence erected on a nearby field of stubble. The windstorm sent dry soil spinning into thick, rolling black clouds visible in Great Falls.

Eastbound traffic was rerouted at the Stockett-Sand Coulee turnoff to Highwood Road through Belt. Westbound traffic also was rerouted through Belt.

The road remained closed for about four hours.

KRTV News Director Joel Lundstad said Hawkins and Gerdrum were returning from a story they had been working on about Eagle Mount at Showdown Ski Area. Both were hard workers and had wonderful personalities that added greatly to the newsroom, he said.

"I don't think of these people as my employees; they were my family," he said.

KRTV opted not to broadcast a news program Saturday, but will resume the newscasts at 5:30 p.m. today, he said.

The wind in the Great Falls area hit its high Saturday -- 61 miles per hour at 12:59 p.m.

Don Herigon, who lives a little more than a mile away from the accident site, said he tried to take a four-wheeler toward the area, but because of the dust he was forced to turn around.

"The wind was terrible," he said. "I've never seen it like this up here."

Rick Becker wasn't home when the accident happened right in front of his property along U.S. Highway 87/89. Becker said he encountered the detours but was able to make his way back home on backroads.

"It looks like a mess out there," he said. "The dirt keeps blowing in, there are all the vehicles and the emergency lights."

Clay Sweeney, who also lives in the area, said there were miles of cars backed up from the scene. And he said he turned around and decided to stay home.

"The wind had to have been pushing 50 miles per hour," said Everett Bumgarner, who also lives in the area.

Skiers 65 miles away at the Showdown Ski area also felt an impact from the accident. Although the weather there didn't include high winds, the traffic snarl near Belt closed roads, stranding Great Falls skiers on the mountain.

"We handed out decks of cards to those who didn't want to ski anymore," said Margie Willette, a spokeswoman at the ski area.

By 4 p.m., Montana Highway Patrol advised the ski area that traffic could take the alternative route through Belt to return to Great Falls.

Although dust storms in the area aren't uncommon, a sudden brownout in January is rare, said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Great Falls.

"There was just no snow cover anymore, and we are in the middle of a drought," Brusda said.

It was a sudden wave that moved through, he said.

The duration of the wind coupled with no moisture and above-freezing temperatures combined to create the conditions, according to the weather service. There has been only .02 inches of moisture this month.

Last summer high winds kicked up a white alkali dust storm, leading to a five-vehicle crash involving three semis and eight people near Sunburst.

The storm conditions with zero-visibility on Interstate 15 a half-mile south of Sunburst.