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Brooklyn Anderson’s mother says the 16-year-old aspired to be a nurse.
“She was just amazing. She was a beautiful soul. She had a lot of life left to give. It’s not fair that she didn’t get to,” Brandee Anderson said.
Brooklyn, who was from Shellbrook, Sask., died Saturday night in a crash near Hepburn, about 45 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
Rosthern RCMP received a report of a crash at 10:10 p.m. CST, according to a news release. They say an SUV and a truck collided. The driver of the SUV, who Brandee confirmed to CBC was Brooklyn, was declared dead at the scene.
The driver of the truck, 22-year-old Riley Farthing from Blaine Lake, is charged with impaired driving causing death. He appeared at provincial court on Monday.
Brooklyn had been driving herself and her mother home from Saskatoon, where they were watching Brooklyn’s friends play football. Brandee’s memories of the drive are still vivid.
“When I looked over to see her … I just can’t believe that she’s the age she is and she’s just beautiful,” Brandee said in an interview Monday.
“I couldn’t believe how old she was getting, how mature she was getting, and it’s so much, crazy to think that she was, one more summer and she’d be going into Grade 12, and people never think that it’s going to be the last.”
Brandee Anderson, left, was in the vehicle during the crash that killed her daughter, Brooklyn Anderson, right. (Brandee Anderson)
Brandee said they were singing songs together and planning how to attend as many of Brooklyn’s friends’ football games as possible.
Then a truck sped towards them.
“He came out of nowhere. He had to have been flying.”
Brandee’s arm was broken, but she still called emergency services and went to her daughter’s side.
“When I was talking to them I was able to shine the light on her, and I put my hand on her chest and on her neck and I saw her face,” Brandee said.
“I figured she wasn’t probably alive.”
A picture of Brooklyn Anderson taken on the day she died. (Brandee Anderson)’A good place in everyone’s hearts’
Brooklyn was “friendly, sassy, loves kids, hard worker,” her mother said.
The high school student volunteered at Bible school and at the retirement home her mother works at, with her eyes on becoming a nurse.
“She literally would come visit me when I was at work and she knew the residents by name,” Brandee said.
Brooklyn Anderson loved a variety of sports and recovered from a game injury that left her barely able to walk. (Brandee Anderson)
She was social and had a wide range of interests, including fishing, horses, sports, and arts and crafts like Lego flowers.
“She was friends with everybody. Everybody loved her. She cared, she loved, she helped,” said Sean Anderson, Brooklyn’s father.
A sports injury meant Brooklyn spent a year barely walking, according to her mom, but she overcame it and started playing again this year.
She touched many lives, including her six-pound yorkie, Max, who was fiercely protective of her and sometimes a passenger in her bike basket.
Brooklyn Anderson with her beloved Max. (Brandee Anderson)
Brooklyn leaves behind two older brothers. Though she died young, she made a big impact, her family said.
“She had a good place in everyone’s hearts,” her father said.