Local News

Community Rallies Around Madras Family

MADRAS, OR -- The Madras community is feeling the loss, following Tuesday afternoon's horrific crash on Highway 97. Anita Bemrose and two of her sons died that day. Her youngest son died at the hospital, Wednesday.

Anita was the mother of eight, and the family also had a foster child. The boys who died, Elliot, Ned and Wyatt, ages 10 to 14, were her youngest. She homeschooled the kids and they all volunteered at the Jefferson County Library and a community food pantry.

 

Librarian Lorene Forman knew the family well. "They're a very close-knit family; very tight. All of the kids and family were very close to one another." She tells KBND News, the family's loss is immense, and felt by everyone who knew them. "Very sweet, giving people. And, kind of a sense of community and giving and you know, dedication of reading, of course, they all had that. But, beyond that, it was their sense of their kind of loving, open, kindness aspect of the character of all of them. Because, Anita's children - she raised them all to be giving like she is."

 

Forman and other community members have set up a Go Fund Me page to help the surviving family. Donations can also be made to the "Bemrose Memorial Fund" at Columbia Bank. "They're going to have huge expenses, and this is a family that doesn't have a lot of resources - financially," says Forman. "So, anything that can be done to help them with their expenses for funerals and for medical; it's going to be huge."

 

Photos courtesy GoFundMe.

On Air Now

First Light
2:00am - 3:00am
First Light

FlashAlert

KBND ON FACEBOOK

News Disclaimers