Parents of Hance girls look to help others

Carrying small gifts blessed by a priest, Warren and Jackie Hance recently paid a call on two mourning families in the village of Floral Park where they all live.

For the parents of Michael Mulhall, 22, and sisters Paige Malone, 19, and Jamie Malone, 22 - killed July 15 going to work as camp counselors in a crash on the Meadowbrook Parkway - the Hances brought a bracelet and prayer medallion along with words of sympathy, said the families' priest.

It was more than a gesture. The Rev. Bruno Dekrem of Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church in Floral Park saw it as a sign that the Hances have pressed on through their own sorrow and quietly become community leaders since all three of their children - Emma, 8, Alyson, 7, and Kate, 5 - died in the Taconic State Parkway crash in Westchester a year ago.

"They can still do good, and they have become a wonderful example of courage," said Dekrem, associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church in Floral Park. But he added: "Their wounds will be there until the end of their lives."

As they plan Monday to mark the first anniversary of a wrong-way accident that killed eight and shocked the nation, the broken families it left behind have struggled to carry on, each waging passionate campaigns in memory of their loved ones.

On Monday, the Taconic victims will be remembered in separate services in Floral Park and in Westchester. The Hances have asked supporters to tie lime green ribbons around trees throughout Floral Park for the day.

The crash happened on a sunny Sunday afternoon, when Warren Hance's sister, Diane Schuler - with both families' children packed into his minivan to return home from an upstate camping trip - went south in the northbound lanes of the Taconic near Mount Pleasant for nearly two miles before crashing head-on into a sport utility vehicle. Along with her three nieces, Schuler, 36, of West Babylon, died with her daughter, Erin, 2. Three Yonkers men in the SUV - Guy Bastardi, 49, his father, Michael Bastardi, 81, and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74 - also were killed. Only Schuler's son, Bryan, now 6, survived, along with two people in a third car.

Authorities soon released an explosive revelation: Schuler was high on marijuana and drunk, with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit at 0.19. The minivan was traveling 85 mph in the wrong direction on a major highway.

While the Bastardis and the Schulers have both spoken publicly and repeatedly in the wake of those shocking findings, the Hances have declined all media requests, including for this story. The couple's public face is the Hance Family Foundation, a nonprofit seeking federal recognition with a mission of improving the lives of children, said its lead volunteer, Bernadette Smith.

The foundation has become a cause in Floral Park and surrounding towns, community leaders say. Its main fundraiser this year, a series of races through the village on May 22, drew 1,250 runners and walkers, whose pathway was lined with "EAK" banners - initials of the girls' first names, Emma, Alyson and Kate.

"People want to be part of this family's healing process," said David Fowler, president of the Floral Park-Bellerose Board of Education. "This community is so invested in its children and the fact that they [the Hances] had three young children who lost their lives touches everyone."

Fundraisers and money from corporate sponsors such as the Islanders, Coca-Cola and JetBlue, have helped the foundation raise more than $200,000, Smith said. It even received about $400 collected at the Hunter Lake Campground in upstate Parksville, where the Hance girls spent the weekend with their aunt and uncle before the crash.

"We got a very nice card back and a picture of the three girls," said Ann Scott, the campground's co-owner. "I have that and I'll keep that forever."

The Hance Family Foundation has already donated $45,000 to three Floral Park elementary schools for playground improvements, and money has also been set aside for a small scholarship for the Floral Park-Bellerose school district.

Smith said Jackie Hance wants the foundation to expand its work to helping poor children in Hempstead and in the Bronx.

Fundraising in loved ones' memory is common among victims' families, said David Kessler, a hospice care and grieving expert in Los Angeles. "It is a way of saying, 'These lives mattered. They meant something, and not only will they not be forgotten, but we will try to turn this tragedy into something that can help others,' " Kessler said.

The only widespread public comments Warren and Jackie Hance have made that hint at their year of emotional turmoil are messages to their supporters on the foundation website.

On June 1, Jackie praised the organizers of the May fundraiser before thanking her husband, "who somehow makes me get out of bed everyday and try to do something productive, even if it's little."

Three days before Father's Day, Warren posted a message asking that friends "always view me as a father."

"My children are gone but being a father was always my proudest accomplishment," Hance said. "My children are special, no more special than yours, but still special. They have a legacy and life lessons that I, as their father, will never surrender."

In a separate message, Warren Hance also thanked the organizers of the fundraiser. "It lets me think that there is hope," he said, "and that peace may be possible someday."

With Matthew Chayes