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Funeral services for Ashley A. Hodson, 18, of Blair, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005, at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Interment will be in the Blair Cemetery. Ashley died Sunday, Jan. 16, as the result of an automobile accident.

Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home, with the family receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m.

Ashley A. Hodson was born Sept. 3, 1986, in Duluth, Minn. She was the daughter of Mark Hodson and Dorene Anderson. She attended school in Blair, and was a senior at Blair High School. She was a member of Blari High School’s mixed chorus, FCCLA, FBLA, FFA and played softball in the community. During her free time, she enjoyed her three dogs, as well as driving around with friends.

She is survived by her father and stepmother, Mark and Angie Hodson; mother and stepfather, Dorene and Alan Anderson; two brothers, Jeremy and Adam; three sisters, Alicia, Cailyn and Allie; grandparents, Wanda Hodson and Tom and Pat Nebrigich, all of Blair.

Memorials may be directed to the family.

#2 Enterprise 21 Jan 2005

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Icy road led to teens’ fatal accident

Ice on a county road was the main factor in a one-vehicle accident last Sunday that left two Blair High School students dead and another injured.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the accident indicated that the vehicle driven by Brandon Tomcak, 16, of rural Washington County hit a patch of ice as it traveled north on County Road 39, slid across the road, then came to rest on its top in a ravine.

Tomcak and 18-year-old Ashley Hodson of Blair died in the crash and 16-year-old Craig Andreasen was injured. Andreasen was able to crawl back to the road, where a passing motorist found him and called 911. He was transported by helicopter to University Hospital in Omaha and was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

The three teens were returning from a trip to Omaha when the accident happened about 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 16.

The sheriff’s investigation also determined that no one riding in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident. Andreasen was riding in the front passenger seat and Hodson was riding in the back seat. Tomcak and Andreasen were fully ejected from the vehicle. Funeral services for Ashley Hodson were Thursday morning at First Lutheran Church. Services for Brandon Tomcak were scheduled for Friday morning also at First Lutheran.

#3 Pilot Tribune Tuesday, 18 January 2005

(Photo of Ashley Hodson) (Photo of Brandon Tomcak) (Photo Craig Andreasen)

Accident claims 2 Blair teens

Third Blair High student injured in Sunday crash

Two Blair High School students were killed and a third student was hospitalized in Omaha after a one-vehicle accident on a Washington County road on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Washington County Sheriff’s office, Ashley Hodson, 18, of Blair, and Brandon Tomcak, 16, of rural Washington County, were pronounced dead at the scene after paramedics from the Fort Calhoun Fire Department responded to the accident site.

Craig Andreasen, 16, of rural Washington County, was flown by LifeNet helicopter to the University Hospital in Omaha. At press time, Andreasen was listed in fair-stable condition with multiple injuries.

The accident occurred at approximately 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, in the 4900 block of County Road 39. The sheriff’s office said the three teens were traveling northbound on County Road 39 west of Fort Calhoun when the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle, which caused it to slide across the roadway. The vehicle flipped over and landed on its top in a nearby ravine.

Capt. Tom Lamb of the sheriff’s office said the investigation into the crash was continuing. He said deputies were scheduled to reconstruct the accident scene on Monday.

Ashley Hodson was a senior at Blair High School. She was a member of the mixed chorus, FCCLA, FBLA and FFA, and played community softball. She enjoyed spending time with her three dogs and driving around with friends. Funeral services were scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at First Lutheran Church in Blair.

Brandon Tomcak was a junior at Blair High. He was a member of the wrestling team, track team, 4-H and Orion Archery Club. In his spare time, he loved hunting and fishing. Funeral services for Brandon Tomcak were scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Friday, Jan. 21, at First Lutheran Church.

Craig Andreasen is a sophomore at Blair High. He is a member of the varsity wrestling team and had compiled a 5-0 record, with two pins and a major decision, at a dual tournament in Waverly last Saturday.

The district’s crisis team met with the Blair High School faculty Monday morning to give them information about the accident and Arbor Family Counseling provided two additional counselors to help students, Superintendent Steve Shanahan said.

Several students sought counseling and many of them were allowed to leave school, with their parents’ permission.

“One of the things we try to do is keep things as normal as possible,” Shanahan said. During times of crisis, students need stability and calmness, he added,” and we try and provide that.”

Students will be excused to attend the funerals of Ashley Hodson and Brandon Tomcak, with their parents’ permission.

#4 Omaha World Herald 18 Jan 2005; Article by John Ferak World-Herald Staff Writer

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Tough week ahead for Blair

Funeral services for two teens killed in a rural Washington County car accident will be Thursday and Friday.

BLAIR, Neb. – Hundreds of students at Blair High School have the impossible task of staying focused on their classes this week.

On Thursday morning, the student body will say its final goodbyes to senior Ashley Hodson, 18.

On Friday, 16-yar-old Brandon Tomcak, a junior, will be buried.

A third classmate, sophomore Craig Andreasen, 16, is unable to attend class. He remains hospitalized in Omaha, recovering from serious injuries.

The three teens were traveling together Sunday when they were involved in a traffic accident in rural Washington County.

“We’re all sad they died, and we hope Craig pulls through,” said Joshua Jensen, a Blair senior, who works at the local No Frills Supermarket and is a cousin of Andreasen.

Jensen said many teachers on Monday lightened the lesson load and homework assignments in light of Sunday’s tragedy.

“The teachers were understanding,” he said.

The three teens were returning to Blair after a brief trip into Omaha when the accident occurred at 1 p.m. Sunday on an icy, partially snow-covered county road eight miles south of Blair, investigators said.

Tomcak’s 1987 Chevy Blazer slid across County Road 39 and landed on its top in a ravine. Both Tomcak and Hodson were pronounced dead at the scene. Andreasen was airlifted to the Nebraska Medical Center. He was upgraded to fair condition Monday, but no further information was available Tuesday.

Accident reconstruction investigators were on the scene Monday afternoon.

“Blair is such a tightly knit community, and we can’t say it enough: Our condolences to the family and our deepest sympathies,” said Blair School Superintendent Steve Shanahan.

The district’s guidance staff and a team of professional counselors from Omaha spent Monday at the high school helping students cope.

“We’re trying to deal with students who are upset on one hand, but also deal with students to keep a normal routine for those who need that,” Shanahan said.

A. J. Swanda, another senior who works at No Frills, was familiar with both of the boys involved in the crash.

Andreasen was in his horticulture class last semester.

“It’s kind of sad losing two kids out of nowhere like that, especially Brandon, because he’s such a good kid and nice person,” Swanda said.

Jensen said seniors are being asked to contribute at least $1 each to buy flowers for Hodson. The senior class has about 150 students.

He hopes other grades also unite at this school of about 700 students.

“I just hope everybody comes together and shows respect,” Jensen said. “It made me think how easy it would have been for any one of us to have been involved.”

The Campbell-Aman Funeral Home in Blair is handling arrangements for both students.

Hodson’s visitation is all day Wednesday at the funeral home, and her funeral services is at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the First Lutheran Church in Blair. She participated in mixed chorus, FFA ad Future Business Leaders of American, and she played softball as a youth.

Visitation for Tomcak will be all day Thursday, and the funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, also at First Lutheran.

Tomcak was involved in the school’s wrestling program and track, and was a member of the Orion Archery Club in Blair.

On Monday afternoon, employees at Country Gardens Flowers & Gifts in downtown Blair were crating floral arrangements for both funerals.

Sunday’s accident had store owner Sandy Carmichael recalling the death of her lone sibling more than 35 years ago.

Her 18-year-old brother, Gary Schumacher, died as the result of a January 1968 accident on a county road in Washington County. He was a passenger in a car with several friends.

Carmichael said students shouldn’t feel uncomfortable about expressing condolences. In her experience, any gesture is appreciated.

“It can be a phone call or a card in the mail,” she said. “Don’t worry about the correct thing to say or do.”

Omaha World Herald 4 Feb 2005

Fund-raiser helps 3 families

(Photo and caption: Julie Hayes of Blair leads her family to a table at a spaghetti dinner that was a fund-raiser for the families of Ashley Hodson, 18, and Brandon Tomcak and Craig Andreasen, both 16. A traffic accident last month killed Hodson and Tomcak and injured Andreasen. About 1,500 people attended the Sunday dinner at the Blair Volunteer Fire Department. The dinner raised nearly $9,000, said organizer Todd Remmereld.

Omaha World Herald 23 Jan 2005 by Michael Kelly

Wisdom of youth shone in Hodson

Youth, we are told, is wasted on the young—they think they will live forever and don’t appreciate life as they should.

That’s often untrue. Ashley Hodson appreciated life, looked forward to all it had to offer and didn’t waste her youth. Even at 18, she had perspective.

A few weeks ago, for a creative writing assignment, the Blair High School senior showed that she knew each day was precious.

“At any time,” she wrote, “there could be a tragic accident, and either my friends or I could be in it. So I try my best to fulfill that day with something that they will always remember.”

Last Sunday about 1 p.m., there was a tragic accident – Ashley and two friends were in it. She and Brandon Tomcak, 16, died. Craig Andreasen, 16, was injured but survived.

Families, friends and the Blair community grieve over the loss of Ashley and Brandon, whose funerals were Thursday and Friday, respectively, at First Lutheran Church in Blair.

When the young die, even people who don’t know them feel pain. Compassion goes out to their loved ones.

This accident wasn’t just Blair’s loss – the region suffers.

Ashley’s father, Mark Hodson, bravely stood at her funeral and read from her school essay. Tough duty, yes. But…

“It was for my daughter,” he told me. “She’d do it for me.”

Despite her unique qualities and personality, in many ways Ashley was like a lot of kids. As she wrote, “I am your average 18-year-old teenager.”

Friendly and sociable, with an easy smile. Funny. A talker. Self-depreciating. “I can never really shut up.”

She wrote of life’s simple pleasures-spending time with family and friends, walking in the park, playing with her dog. Family and friends, she said,were her life.

She was open to wherever life took her, whether New York, New York, or Blair, Nebraska. She wanted to marry and have children, and live in a safe place with a strong, supportive family.

Those of us who are older should never sell short either the hopefulness of the young or their developing wisdom.

You are not born with wisdom. You gain it. Ashley, who sang in mixed chorus and dreamed of becoming a law enforcement officer, sounded in her essay as if she thought deeply.

As a family friend said, she was stepping into adulthood with a good grasp on her place in life and an appreciation for is value. She kept a positive outlook.

Last Sunday she went shopping in Omaha apparently to buy games. On the way home eight miles south of Blair, Brandon’s 1987 Chevy Blazer slid on ice, overturned and landed in a ravine.

Seven months ago, Ashley’s brother Jeremy,16, survived serious injuries in an accident. And now this.

Their mother, Dorene Anderson, wrote a letter “to my sweet baby girl” that the minister read at the funeral. Jeremy’s accident, she said, was God’s way of preparing the family for this tragedy.

The Lord, she said, “had something greater planned for you than we could ever give you.”

When Dorene and others went to the scene of Ashley’s accident, a white dove appeared.

Drawing on her faith, Dorene took that as a sign that Ashley was surely now an angel.

Mark Hodson said parents should never forget that each day and each of their children are precious. “Tell them you love them every chance you get.”

In her essay, Ashley left similar wise words.

“Life is such a beautiful thing to have, and we shouldn’t take it for granted. We need to live life to its fullest and cherish the times that we all spend together.”

Omaha World Herald by John Ferak World-Herald Staff Writer

Blair High mourns loss of two teens in car crash

An afternoon trip to Omaha ended Sunday with the deaths of two Blair teenagers, creating a somber mood in the hallways of Blair High School.

Brandon Tomcak, 16, of rural Washington County and Ashley Hodson, 18, of Blair were pronounced dead at the scene after Tomcak’s car left an icy Washington County road about 1 p.m.

A third classmate, Craig Andreasen,16, also of rural Washington County, was transported by helicopter to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha in critical condition. Andreasen, who suffered multiple injuries, was upgraded Monday morning to stable condition, Washington County Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Lamb said.

The three Blair High School students were on their way back from Omaha, where a family member thought they had gone shopping.

“Brandon was a good student. He was one of those kids who got along with everybody,” his grandmother, Leola Tomcak of Omaha, said Monday. “This is a terrible day, and it’s like I’m dreaming and I will be awake.”

Blair school officials were notified Sunday night about the crash and brought in crisis counselors to speak with friends of the teens involved in the accident.

The three friends were headed north on County Road 39, about eight miles south of Blair, when the driver lost control, Lamb said.

He said he’s not sure who was driving. The roadway was partially snow covered, Lamb said. The vehicle slid across the road and landed in a ravine on it top.

The speed limit on that stretch of road is 50 mph.

“It was icy, and the accident happened on a sharp curve,” Lamb said.

Investigators planned to re-construct the accident scene Monday, he said, and weren’t ready to release additional information about the cause.

Brandon Tomcak, a junior, was on the high school wrestling team, his grandmother said.

He is the youngest of Michael and Cindy Tomcak’s two sons.

“Brandon loved archery and fishing,” Leola Tomcak said. “He and his dad went all over, South Dakota, Minnesota.”

Hodson, a senior, hoped to attend college after graduating from Blair High School this spring, said her grandmother, Wanda Hodson of Blair.

“She is a lovely girl, just a real sweet person,” she said.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

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