{"id":100942,"date":"2025-12-25T23:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T23:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/100942\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T23:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T23:46:09","slug":"angleton-woman-honors-drunk-driving-victims-with-christmas-trees-of-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/100942\/","title":{"rendered":"Angleton woman honors drunk driving victims with Christmas Trees of Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANGLETON, Texas \u2013 At first glance, they look like Christmas trees decorated for the holidays. But a closer look reveals something far more powerful.<\/p>\n

Each angel hanging from the branches carries a face, a reminder of someone who never made it home\u2014lives lost because of drunk driving.<\/p>\n

One of those faces belongs to Mindy Red\u2019s daughter, Michelle Red, who was just 18 years old when she was killed in a drunk driving crash in February of 2009.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Man critically injured after shooting in southeast Houston<\/a><\/p>\n

The crash happened near Kuykendahl Road and FM 1960 in north Houston. The driver responsible was later sentenced to prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt changed our life completely,\u201d said Red. <\/p>\n

Red said she lost her job, had to uproot her kids and move because of the court proceedings that followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these were the domino effect of a choice to get behind the wheel and drive impaired,\u201d said Red.<\/p>\n

What began as a small memorial\u2014a single tree with just three photos\u2014has grown over the years into multiple trees holding more than a thousand faces from across Texas, the country, and even overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sadly beautiful,\u201d said Red. \u201cI\u2019ve learned many of their stories, and many of their parents or family members are my friends now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As painful as it is to revisit the loss year after year, Mindy says the purpose of the memorial is prevention\u2014especially during the holiday season, when impaired driving crashes tend to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne drink can change someone\u2019s life,\u201d said Red. \u201cDriving is a privilege, not a right. You have to plan ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her message comes as authorities continue to investigate deadly crashes tied to suspected impaired driving across the Houston area. <\/p>\n

Just last week, a suspected drunk driving crash on the Grand Parkway left three peopled dead, with a 3-year-old child as the sole survivor in a family of four.<\/p>\n

A 27-year-old woman has since been charged with intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 27-year-old woman charged in fatal wrong-way crash that killed 3 on Grand Parkway<\/a><\/p>\n

Mindy says every new crash reinforces why she continues the memorial, even when it\u2019s emotionally exhausting.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, there are more faces,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd every one of them was preventable.\u201d<\/p>\n

She urges drivers to designate a sober driver, use ride-share services, or simply leave the car and come back for it the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can save you thousands in court fees,\u201d she said. \u201cBut more importantly, it can save you from living with the fact that you took a life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mindy says this year marks the eighth year she has put up the Trees of Angels, a tradition she hopes one day will no longer need to grow.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANGLETON, Texas \u2013 At first glance, they look like Christmas trees decorated for the holidays. But a closer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19268,46237,46236,13531,405,56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-100942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-angleton","9":"tag-drunk-driving-crash-victims","10":"tag-drunk-driving-warning","11":"tag-dui","12":"tag-harris-county","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-headlines","15":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}