Candlelight vigil remembers lives lost to drunk driving in Temple Terrace

Candlelight vigil honors drunk driving victims

FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports on Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) holding its 40th annual candlelight vigil event for families, friends, and law enforcement who have lost loved ones to drunk driving accidents.

TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. - Dozens of candles lit up the night honoring lives lost to drunk drivers at a candlelight vigil on Thursday at Mission Hill Church in Temple Terrace.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) held the 40th annual vigil event for families, friends and law enforcement to remember lives lost.

"It’s also a night of hope, because a lot of people, after they lose someone to an impaired driving crash, their hope is gone. They don’t have anymore hope. So, we come here and this is where a lot of victims find healing, they find hope," said Linda Unfried, the co-founder of MADD Hillsborough County.

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They also found 60 minutes of reflection and understanding, especially at this time of year.

"You have all these holidays and these moments that are supposed to be happy and cheerful. Well, we have somebody that doesn’t get to enjoy that with us. So, here we all know we’re still enjoying each other. We still laughing, but we all know in our hearts that something’s missing," said Tina McCallister, whose son Dustin Horne was killed in October 2018. "He was my first baby. So, he was always my baby up until 30 years, when we lost him."

Forty-one years have passed for Linda Unfried since a drunk driver killed her sister, Josie.

"Josie only stood four foot tall. She was very little, smaller than me. But she had a giant heart," said Unfried. "We don’t want any more victims. We want to end this. It’s a senseless tragedy."

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It’s been 22 years of grief for Pam Kelshaw after losing her daughter, Silina.

"The good part of it was she didn’t feel any pain. But the rest of us have felt pain for the rest of our lives," said Kelshaw.

Vigil attendees lit candles for those they hold dear and walked in their memories.

"My favorite memory is also my worst memory," said Kelshaw. "She was homeschooled, and I would call her every day when I took lunch when we would hang up, we would say ‘I love you Sisy,’ and she would say ‘Ditto.’ And the last time I talked to her, she says, ‘I love you, Mom,’ and I said ‘Ditto.’"

Their grief endures just as their love does, and they hope no one else suffers this loss.

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"All of our journeys are different. Not one is the same and nobody should be discounted, and everybody should be allowed to grieve as long as they want to grieve and this helps a lot," said McCallister.

The MADD vigil Thursday night closed with a song and a message to spread the word about not getting behind the wheel even if you’ve had one drink.

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