This online memorial was created in loving memory of Sara Rose Hennarichs, whose life story is told throughout this memorial website. Most of the pages have music. If you don't hear the music just click play on the gray bar at the bottom of each page...Please also visit sara's other site http://sara-rose-hennarichs.memory-of.com/About.aspx

Just a little about Sara:

Sara seemed to smile from the moment she was born. Her whole face lit up when she smiled. Sara smiled as she sat and watched TV, she smiled when she ate, she even smiled when she cried, she just always had a smile on her face. Through the years she grew to be such an affectionate, loving, caring girl who always wanted everyone to be happy. She hated to see anyone sad and would do anything in her power to make them smile. I’ll never forget being at her second grade class holiday party. At the end of the party all the children received a goody bag full of all sorts of goodies. For some reason they were short one goody bag and one girl in the class didn’t get one. The girl started to cry and the teacher frantically tried to put something together for her. I watched as Sara got up from her desk and walked over to this little girl and without hesitation gave the girl her goody bag. There was so much commotion going on in the classroom that no one else noticed this except me, and I remember thinking what an amazing little girl I have. This unbelievable act of kindness and generosity from a second grader was so pure and unselfish. All she wanted was for this girl to stop crying and to make her smile. She didn’t care that her act of kindness went unnoticed.

And this is how she lived her whole life. Smiling, laughing, and showing kindness and love to all. She would find the good in everyone. She would defend kids who could not defend themselves. Her ability to make people laugh was so natural for her. You could never have a bad day with Sara around because she would make you laugh and forget all your troubles. Sara loved her family and friends with every ounce of her being. Anyone that knew Sara can honestly say that Sara was “one of a kind”….. 

The day our lives changed forever:

 On September 13th, 2003 I dropped Sara off at her friends house for a sleepover. My husband Duane was away in Wisconsin for the weekend to see a Green Bay Packers game. Before Sara left to go to her friends house that evening, her older sister Amy was trying real hard to get her to go to the mall with her and a friend. Sara decided not to go to the mall and to keep her plans to sleep at her friends house instead. Thinking back on this now, I believe Amy may have subconsciously known something would go horribly wrong that night because she tried so hard to keep Sara with her. I dropped Sara off at her friends house around 6:00pm. Sara grabbed her overnight bag and got out of the car and then came back in and gave me a kiss and told me she loves me. I said "I love you too". Her friends family had just moved to this neighborhood and they were building a beautiful home on 5 acres of property that was almost complete. The girls loved all the land and were starting to meet some of the kids that lived in the neighborhood. Since there was so much space between the houses, most of the children used golf carts to get around. Unknown to me, some of them were also getting around on dangerous machines called ATV's, or All Terrain Vehicles which I had never heard of before. On this particular evening, a 13 year old boy drove his adult sized ATV, unsupervised, into the gated community Sara was in. The girls had just recently met him. He met up with the girls and a couple of other friends. They hung out for a little bit. Not knowing anything about ATV's, Sara thought it looked like fun and asked if she could drive it. The 13 year old boy said yes even though she was never trained to drive the machine. She put on a helmet and his friend hopped on the back. They drove down a narrow paved road. Sara lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree.

Meanwhile, I was at home waiting for Laura (Sara's little sister) to be picked up by her friends mother for a night out at Mizner Park. Just as she arrived and as I was leaving to take Amy to the mall, the phone started ringing. I was in such a rush I almost didn't answer it. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Sara's friend's mom so I picked it up. She was in a panic telling me that there has been a tragic accident and Sara was involved. I screamed "IS SARA OKAY!" and she said she didn't know. I threw down the phone and grabbed both girls. The drive to the hospital was a blur and we  prayed and cried the whole ride hoping Sara just broke her leg. To this day I still don't know how I made it to the hospital in such a state of panic. When we arrived at the hospital people I didn't even know tried to console me as I sat in the emergency waiting room for an hour and a half not knowing how bad her injuries were. No one was able to answer any of my questions. The only thing I did know was that the boy on the back of the ATV was okay and he just broke his leg. Amy called Duane in Wisconsin and let him know what was going on. I got on the phone with him and not knowing how Sara was all I could say was "Please come home".  Soon after that the nurse came out and told me the doctor needed to talk to me. They took me into a little room and the doctor explained how serious Sara's injuries were and that they did all they could and she wasn't going to make it. At that point I bent over and let out a loud, raw scream that I never heard come out of my mouth before. Then my whole body went numb. I went into shock and I was told I could go in to say goodbye to Sara. WHAT? SAY GOODBYE? I will NEVER say goodbye. This had to be a nightmare. I was led into her room and there she was laying there all covered up except for her head and feet. My sweet girl was laying there helpless and there was nothing I could do about it. Feeling so helpless and not being able to stop what was happening to her was the worst kind of pain that words could never describe. A pain that I will live with for the rest of my life. I just wanted to lay down and die with her. I did die with her that night. Duane took the first flight home but not before Sara died. Sara left this world in the arms of the Angels a little after 10:00pm that evening...

I went home that night and laid in bed with Laura waiting for Duane to come home. Amy had a friend over to help comfort her. I was numb from shock, my heart felt so heavy and it was pounding very hard. When Duane finally arrived home around 4:00am he laid in bed with us, hugging and crying with us. One of the first things he said to me was "Cathy, I can't fix this, this is something I just can't fix". Duane, who could fix everything, could not fix this. I knew how much that tormented him and how helpless he must have felt being so far away from Sara and us that evening....

The next several days were torture. Having to sit in the funeral home office making arrangements for Sara's wake and funeral, having to pick out clothes for her to wear in her casket, finding the right words for her obituary and picking out the perfect urn for her ashes were incomprehensible. All I could think about was Sara, I needed to know where she was and if she was okay. This was all too much to bear and I could not allow my mind to comprehend what was happening. I consider it a gift from God that I was totally numb and in shock during that whole time. The only thing I could comprehend at that time was that my life, as I once knew it, has ended and my family and I had a life long journey of sadness and pain ahead....

 FRIENDS MOURN VICTIM OF ATV CRASH  - SARA HENNARICHS, 13, DIED SATURDAY AFTER DRIVING INTO A TREE.
 Date: Sep 15, 2003
[Palm Beach Edition]

Children in the Tierra Delray development shared tears and hugs Sunday, mourning a 13-year-old girl who was killed in an all- terrain vehicle Saturday night after she lost control of the ATV and crashed into a tree. Though Sara Hennarichs lived west of Boca Raton, she was friends with many of the children at Tierra Delray, said David Sanz, speaking on behalf of Sara's family.  "This was a girl that was absolutely adored by all," Sanz said.  "I don't believe she had an enemy in the world."

Sara died at Delray Medical Center shortly after 10 p.m., about three hours after the crash on La Reina Road west of Delray Beach.
Sanz said nearly two dozen children, including his daughter, spent Sunday crying, comforting each other and placing flowers at the site of the crash.   "All the children are extremely traumatized," he said.  "But they're helping each other out.  It's amazing to see children set the example for adults."   Sara, captain of the cheerleading squad and an eighth-grader at Eagles Landing Middle School, was a bubbly and outgoing girl, Sanz said.  "You know she would have turned out to be a future leader," he added.

Sara was inside the gated community, riding on a golf cart with a friend, when they came across two boys they knew who were riding on a Yamaha ATV, said Investigator Larry Colagiovanni of the sheriff's traffic homicide unit.   Sara put on a helmet and began to drive the ATV while Matthew Imbres, 13, stayed on the ATV as a passenger. She lost control of the vehicle as it veered off the grass shoulder and hit a tree.  The impact of the crash threw both Sara and Matthew off the vehicle, according to reports.  Matthew suffered minor injuries in the crash.  The boy originally driving the ATV told investigators that Sara had driven the ATV at least once before, said Colagiovanni, who estimated the speed at the time of the crash to be about 30 to 35 mph.  No charges are expected because the teens were driving the ATV on private property, and were both wearing helmets.  Association regulations at Tierra Delray require anyone driving an ATV to be 16 or older, but Sanz declined to comment about the crash itself.

For investigators, the crash reinforces a safety message about ATVs.  "If you have young kids riding these things, they need to be on private property, they need to have the right safety equipment, and they need to have adult supervision," Colagiovanni said.  The vehicle itself should not be beyond the driver's capability, he said, adding that ATVs are usually too powerful for young children.

Four years later Sara's case went to trial:

On September 13, 2003, decedent was visiting the home of a friend who lived in a gated community in W. Delray Beach. Early that evening, while it was still daylight, decedent and her friend went to “hang out” in the neighborhood with some other children. They were at the driveway of a neighbor’s house when thirteen year old Defendant Nicolas brought his family’s one hundred and twenty-five cc All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) to the neighbor’s house where the girls had gone. At that time, Nicolas allowed decedent to get on the ATV as the driver, with another friend behind her as a passenger, and allowed decedent to drive the ATV. Both decedent and her passenger were wearing helmets. Decedent drove down the paved road a short way until she came upon a slight turn in the road. At that point, decedent lost control and continued straight ahead, off the road, and into a tree. Both decedent and her passenger were thrown from the ATV. Decedent suffered severe head injuries and died within a few hours. Ronald Warfield testified at trial about the industry standards and ATV safety in general. Ronald Warfield stated that there are warning placards in many places on ATVs pursuant to those industry standards as follows: (1) no one under the age of sixteen should ever ride this 125 cc ATV; (2) no one under the age of sixteen should ever ride any ATV without adult supervision; (3) never ride this 125 cc ATV with a passenger; and (4) never ride on pavement. Ronald Warfield further stated that the reason these warnings are on these vehicles is that a thirteen year old does not have the cognitive ability to understand the dangers associated with driving this vehicle, and that without proper training and supervision, and if the industry safety standards are not followed, this vehicle is dangerous and can kill. Nicolas’ father, Defendant Roger, testified that those warnings on the ATV did not mean anything to him, and that they were there simply to protect the manufacturers from lawsuits. All of the Finas testified about how Nicolas was trained and how the family had gone through the owner’s manual together. The owner’s manual is filled with much more detailed safety information than what is contained on the warning placards. The Finas also testified about how Nicolas was basically able to come and go as he pleased with the family ATV. The testimony at trial established that the Fina family, the people with the ownership and most knowledge and training about this ATV, ignored most of the standards and warnings, and that Defendants Karen and Roger Fina were negligent for allowing their thirteen year old son to use the vehicle as he did. 

The trial for Sara was extremely hard to sit through. We had to relive everything all over again. The parents who owned the ATV did not think they did anything wrong. It was torture just being in the same room with them. They blamed everyone else but themselves, including God. These parents allowed thier 13 year old child to use thier adult sized  ATV as if it were just a bicycle. They let him take it off thier property without supervision or proper training.  If these adults had enough common sense to follow the safety rules and warnings on the ATV, this accident would have never happened. If this didn't happen to Sara, it would have eventually happened to another child or maybe even thier own.  I am so sorry Sara ever came across these people:

"...And Now, you will continue to bless people with the knowledge that ATV's are dangerous, not toys. And through you Sara, other children & parents will hopefully understand the true danger of riding one, and through you, children's lives will be saved.  You truly are an angel in heaven & gift to us here on earth."....Randi 

"...The number of people you have reached and the lives you have saved through sharing Sara's story could reach into the hundreds but even if it was just one, thats one family that has their child with them today. You are a messenger, you are Sara's voice."....David