Published Thursday, November 28, 2002
By Sherris Moreira-Byers
Herald Staff Writer
A couple drives down a Butler County road at about 8 p.m. on a warm June evening. Their small talk about their day may have culminated in a discussion about the baby they were expecting in January. If it was a boy, they would call him Michael.
Coming down the road toward them was a 7,000-pound pickup truck. According to state police in Butler County, the driver was talking on her cell phone and had been drinking.
She crossed the center line.
At about 1:30 a.m. on June 16, Rosellen Moller, 63, of 69 Edgewood Drive, Transfer, heard a knock on her door. Her husband Dale answered it.
"Your son is dead. Your daughter-in-law is in critical condition," was the message state troopers gave Moller.
The Mollers would later find out that their son, Glenn Clark, 38, was killed instantly when his 3,000-pound pickup truck was hit by a larger pickup driven by Jennifer Langston, 26, of Cabot, Pa. According to court documents, her blood alcohol level measured .11 soon after the crash. The state limit for drunken driving is .10.
Clark's body was so badly mangled that even though the family decided to donate his organs, his eyes couldn't be saved and his heart couldn't be donated because of the length of time it took to cut his body from the mangled metal of his truck.
The accident sent Clark's wife, Annette, 34, into an unresponsive coma. She was about two-months pregnant at the time.
Still in a coma, Mrs. Clark gave birth via surgery Friday at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh to a 5-pound, 12-ounce boy named Michael Anthony Clark.
"She wasn't very far along at the time of the accident and they think that's what saved the baby's life," Mrs. Moller said. "We know we have a miracle in the baby. That's going to help us through these holiday times."
She described her son, a 1981 Reynolds High School graduate and a standout wrestler, as full of life.
"He was one of these guys who didn't care if you were a bum on the street. He treated everyone the same. He just liked people and he liked kids and he had a smile that lit up the room," Mrs. Moller said. Clark started the wrestling program at Mars High School four years ago and served as the school's wrestling coach.
The Clarks were married six years before the wreck and were very happy about where their life together was heading, according to Mrs. Moller.
"They were just where they wanted to be. Everything was going so good. They had just bought a little fixer-upper and they were fixing it up," she said. "They were just like two peas in a pod. There are some people that are meant to be together and that was these two."
Though his mother remains comatose, Michael is doing well. "The baby has the same smile as Glenn. He's quite the little guy. He's definitely our miracle baby," Mrs. Moller said.
Michael will be raised by Annette's sister Michelle and her husband Matt in Saxonburg.
"We have a very good relationship with their family and they've been very clear that they want us to be part of his life," Mrs. Moller said, adding that they have seen Michael twice since he was born.
"His birth was one of those days that was supposed to be happy, but it's so mixed emotions," Mrs. Moller said, referring to how hard it has been for both families.
"When I first saw the baby when they brought him out of the delivery, Glenn should have been there. And he wasn't. And when I held him, it should have been Glenn holding him for the first time. And I'm sad for Annette. She can't hold him and share in this happiness."
Police charged Ms. Langston with vehicular homicide , involuntary manslaughter, drunken driving and other charges. She is scheduled for a pretrial Dec. 6 in Butler County Common Pleas Court, according to a spokesperson in the Butler County Clerk of Courts Office.
"But the Butler County district attorney told us that she may only get two to six months for this. I'm not real happy about that because it seems to me a life is worth more than that," Mrs. Moller said.
"It's going to be rough this Thanksgiving. They always came up the day after Thanksgiving and it's going to be empty. But the baby will help fill our heart."