One year after Emily Sanregret died from being struck by a car while on her way to work at a Cloverdale daycare, she is remembered by her former students.
Sanregret, 21, was struck by a car while walking in a crosswalk on June 23, 2017, while she was on her way work as an early childhood educator at Kidz Rock Daycare. She died in hospital less than a week later, on June 28.
In June 2017, RCMP said that speeding and impaired driving were not considered factors in the crash, but that poor visibility may have been. The driver was heading east, into the morning sun, when Sanregret was struck.
On the one year anniversary of her passing, Sanregret is remembered with a memorial at the intersection of 168th Street and 60th Avenue, where the incident happened. On Thursday (June 28), some of her former students placed fresh flowers, balloons and an energy drink — which she was fond of — at the memorial.
One daycare parent, who asked to remain anonymous, wanted to make sure her children could remember their former teacher in a special way.
She first met Sanregret when her foster children began attending Kidz Rock Daycare in March of 2016
“My kids loved Emily,” she said. “She touched those children’s hearts in the way that every preschool teacher should.”
“She was by all accounts an amazing, fun person,” she said, adding that, in some ways, Sanregret’s spirit lives on in her children.
“I’ve never in my life had to deal with a tragedy like this with any of my children,” she said.
“Every person in their life is a vital part of their life,” she said, explaining that it was especially true for foster children. “For children like mine, someone like Emily was a very significant part of their life.”
The parent, who belongs to a daylily club, wanted to create a living memorial for the early childhood educator her children loved so much, so she arranged to have a daylily named after Emily Sanregret. It’s not unusual for new varieties to be named after loved ones, to celebrate memories in bright blooms of colour.
Sanregret’s mother selected a variety of daylily in April, and the flower was officially named in May. An official biography will one day be completed to go along with the flowers, so that people who purchase that variety of daylily will know Sanregret’s story, and her memory will live on.
If anyone would like to contribute to the naming of the daylily, they can contact jacquelynn57@gmail.com.
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