Jacqulynn "Jackie" Foy Memorial Fundraiser

Bull Roast at Kurtz's Beach

Sunday, April 5 2009 2pm - 6pm

and Gift Basket Raffles

To purchase tickets contact:

Christmas Eve started as a fairly typical day at the Foy household.

The Pasadena family was preparing for the holiday while going about their other obligations.
Mike Foy was getting ready to go to his garage, where he needed to repair a flat tire on a truck in his construction business. His wife, Catherine, and 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, were going to get some lunch.
Then the day turned tragic.
Catherine forgot something, and she ran back into the house on Swift Road to get it, leaving Jackie behind. They're not sure what happened next, but Mr. Foy thinks Jackie hopped out of the car, hoping to go with her dad. "She always wanted to be with me," he said through tears this morning. Somehow, Jackie ended up under the wheels of Mr. Foy's large trailer. Mr. Foy ran and grabbed Jackie. She was complaining of leg pain. His wife came out, hearing the screaming, and called 911.
They drove Jackie down the road to the Lake Shore Volunteer Fire Co., where paramedics worked to revive Jackie.
"Crews immediately worked on her," said Division Chief Michael Cox, a county Fire Department spokesman.
But Mr. Foy knew it was too late. As they were on the way to the fire house, he held Jackie in his arms and felt as her body went limp. "She died in my arms," he said.
Mr. Foy described his daughter as "larger than life." "Her heart was bigger than she was," he said. He said his daughter, a fourth-grader at Lake Shore Elementary, was loving, caring and creative. The youngest of his seven children, the two shared a special bond.
"I was real close to this one," he said. "She was a wonderful little girl."
He would say "I love my little girl," and she'd reply "I love my daddy more." It was something they said to each other several times a day. Jackie loved animals and was compassionate for others. She had many friends, and they were always vying to line Jackie up for play dates and sleepovers. She had "adorable eyes that could just melt you," he said. She was very mature for her age, and always comforted those around her who were hurt, her father recalled. "If you didn't know her, you really missed out ... It was a blessing to know her," he said.

Two years ago, Jackie saw her mother get hit and killed by a car while crossing a street, Mr. Foy said. Mr. Foy later remarried and his new wife, Catherine, became like a best friend to Jackie, he said. But she longed for her mother, especially recently. He found Jackie crying recently, missing her mother. She wished she could see her for Christmas, he recalled. "She got her Christmas wish, you know," Mr. Foy said. Since Wednesday, the family has been together in their grief. Today they were making funeral arrangements for Jackie. The family didn't exchange presents or anything, they couldn't bring themselves to celebrate. "We didn't really even have a Christmas," he said. Mr. Foy said he has a lot of support from his church, Lake Shore Bible Church, which is right in the neighborhood, and his family, many of whom live in Pasadena. He's comforted by the fact that he was able to be there with her when she died, he said. "I know she's in heaven, and I'll get to see her again," he said.