Crime & Safety

‪'My Heart Sank': Woman in Car that Struck Metra Train Got Out Minutes Before Crash‬

Tinley residents Donna Grace and Gail Crabtree dropped off their friend in Oak Forest just 15 minutes before crashing into a Metra train.

When Jeanette Slager got out of her friend, Donna Grace's car in Oak Forest around 3:45 p.m. Thursday she told her, "Now, you go straight home, you hear?"

The 84-year-old had no idea that Grace, 81, and her passenger, Gail Crabtree, 97, would never make it home — at least not to .

"They're smiling down," Slager, 84, said Saturday. "They made it to God's home. That's where they are."

The two women . Video footage from a camera inside the train shows all ," Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile said Friday.

Slager has spent the last two days replaying the chain of events in her mind, she said, wondering what could have happened at that railroad crossing.

After all, the three women did what they did every Thursday—went to a senior center in Crestwood to play dominoes together. Grace always picked Slager up and she always had Crabtree in the car. It was routine.

"The car was working fine when I was in it," Slager said. "The air conditioner was on. We had no problems. Everything was great."

And Grace was not the type of person who would try to beat the train, either, she said.

"She was a very careful driver, never in a hurry," Slager said. "There were always cars passing her and she'd always say, 'Why are you in such a hurry?'"

She assumed the pair had made it home safely, as they did every other week, and didn't know of any problem until Crabtree's granddaughter, Gayle Larsen, called her around 5:30 p.m., asking where her grandma was. Soon after, Slager got a call from the Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Then, she got the news.

"My heart sank," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to do."

The three women had known each other for two decades but Slager said they've grown closer after she was widowed about 13 years ago. They met at a baptist church in Oak Forest and until Thursday, attended regular services together at Heritage Baptist Church in Frankfort.

She said Grace was a loving and caring woman who never hesitated to give her a ride to the store or the doctor. And in her old age, Crabtree was "sharp as a tack." Slager looked Saturday at a "get well soon" card Crabtree had written to her last month when she wasn't feeling well.

"For a 97-year-old woman, she had beautiful handwriting," Slager said. "Just beautiful. She was beautiful. … They were very good friends. I sure am going to miss them."

The three had big plans for the summer like going to a friend's wedding in August and watching bands perform.

"This is just unreal," Slager said. "We were having such a good time."

She got choked up thinking about her church family coping with the news. Worshipping just won't be the same, she said.

"When they left, the last thing I said to them was, 'See you Sunday,'" she said. "And they said, 'We'll see you Sunday.' But you know what? They'll be there. I know it."


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