Oakland Family Struggles On Mother's Day After Return From Funeral
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- Six siblings who were stranded in Florida after traveling across the country for their mom's funeral were finally back home in Oakland this weekend, only to face Mother's Day without her.
LaDonald Griffin showed KPIX 5 the last photo he and his 35-year-old wife Christina Davis took together before she hopped on a Greyhound bus for a vacation to see family and friends in Jacksonville.
The trip turned fateful in late March when LaDonald said police called him after an underage drunk driver slammed into the car Christina was riding in head on. A second car also hit the vehicle.
"As I'm on the phone with them, I heard the accident," remembered Griffin. "Like my wife screamed and it just went blank."
Her sister Evelyn, her sister's boyfriend and her nephew were all killed in the crash.
The group had been on their way to see 'Black Panther.'
"She was a great woman. And she just got taken from us for somebody that was drinking," said Griffin. "Even if it didn't happen in this state, I just hope that this gets out to somebody and touch somebody and say, 'Hey, I'll call an Uber tonight and I'm just going to leave my car here even if I do get a ticket.'"
After a family member drove the kids to Florida for their mother's funeral, they didn't have enough money to get back home for about six weeks. United Airlines stepped up and flew them back to the Bay Area Saturday.
On Sunday, the Mother's Day holiday was difficult for the children to face after their loss.
"When it was Mother's Day last year, we did something really nice," said six-year-old Daphine Griffin.
LaDonald Griffin is now struggling to take care of the six kids in their East Oakland home. The children range in age from 5 to 15. Christina was a stay-at-home mom.
"She was energetic and goofy and she liked playing around a lot and she always took us to a lot of places," said 12-year-old LaDonna Griffin.
LaDonald Griffin was feeling the loss too Sunday.
"She was my best friend. She was my everything," said Griffin.
One person in Christina's car survived the crash; her nine-year-old niece. She suffered a broken neck, two broken legs and two broken arms.
An online fundraiser for the family has been set up and can be visited at this link.