The elderly couple killed in a crash at a Davie Street intersection this week aren’t the kind of people who would be drinking or speeding, their daughter told CTV News.
Melissa Ma said she was in “shock and disbelief” when she found out her parents, Matthew and Linda, were killed suddenly when their SUV lost control coming down the Seymour off-ramp of the Granville Street Bridge on Monday.
“They’re upright people, don’t engage in any vices and don’t drink and gamble, that kind of stuff. They were great parents and wonderful grandparents as well,” she said.
Ma said she has flown up from California in order to sort out funeral arrangements. She said she has talked to the B.C. coroner’s office, who hasn’t been able to say much.
“They’re checking to see if there was a medical issue or a stroke that led to the accident,” Ma said.
She said her father Matthew was a chartered accountant, who had a practice and is recently retired. Her mother Linda was an office administrator, who was retired as well.
“They’re both really hardworking, great with people, really involved with communities and churches,” Ma said, adding the true gravity of the accident hasn’t really hit home yet.
“Initially it was shock and disbelief. I’ve been thankful to have a lot of support from friends and family here in Vancouver and in California,” she said. “I’m sure it will soon hit in a very big way.”
Matthew, 68, was driving with Linda, 70, in the passenger seat of a white SUV around 5:30 p.m. on Monday when it veered off the street, hit a tree, and struck a lamp post. Three men in their 30s were injured by the falling tree.
Police are trying to figure out what caused the crash. The only clue officers shared so far was that speed was a factor.
The couple were very active in the St. John’s the Apostle Church in Kerrisdale, Father Terry Bileski told CTV.
“They attended here regularly each week, sometimes more,” Bileski said. “They were a friendly, open, warm couple.”
Matthew was a member of the finance committee and also a lector at the masses. Linda attended to floral upkeep of the parish, he said.
“She recently took on the task of being a Eucharistic minister who assists the pastor in distributing communion,” he said.
He said the news of the crash was a shock to the parish.
“I was stunned, my goodness. It took a while to sink in,” he said.