7/28/1967 to 1/21/1984
As told by her mom, Carol Daily.
Our family moved up to Whitefish in June of 1979. My husband Richard got work as a maintenance man with the school district and I worked as a cook and then a custodian. We had two girls, Stefanie and then Toni Marie.
Our Stefanie was like any other teenager. She didn’t want to pick up her room but she did love art work. She was learning how to cook and made the best pie crust. She always had a smile on her face and enjoyed school even if the teachers got upset with her. Stefanie loved to sing and dance and just loved life. She was always happy to be with friends and family. She played basketball and was on the track team.
In Stefanie’s sophomore year, the girls decided to try out for cheerleaders for the wrestling team.
On January 21, the Whitefish wrestling team went over to Browning and Cut Bank for a meet. They started back later than they had planned. The school bus had no chains and it had snowed so the road wasn’t great. A tractor-trailer was headed back to Cut Bank from the airport in Kalispell with an empty pup. It jackknifed in front of the school bus, hitting it. It killed the nine people in front and the bus went up in flames. All the wrestlers got out. This was at Essex, Montana.
We loved her and will never forget her.
