Town mourns four sisters Community’s grief palpable after crash

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ASHLAND – “When I woke up this morning, wiped the sleep from my eyes, I found a new day dawning, and suddenly I realize – you’re gone.”

The opening lyrics to Travis Tritt’s haunting melody “Tell Me I Was Dreaming” were a tragic reality for many people in Ashland last week. The song was played as the last of hundreds of mourners filed into Ashland Community High School on Saturday for a memorial service to remember Paige Long, 16, Melinda “Mindy” Long, 15, Victoria Basso, 5, and Trinity Basso, 3. The sisters died together April 17 in a car accident on Route 11.

More than 700 people flocked to the memorial service for the sisters, who died a half-mile from their home. The 1997 Pontiac Sunfire, with Paige Long at the wheel, apparently strayed into the path of a tractor-trailer loaded with logs last Monday afternoon.

The truck crushed the car and pushed it hundreds of feet down the road.

The truck driver, Gerald Bean, 39, of Enfield, could not avoid the girls’ vehicle as it drifted into the southbound lane of the two-lane road. He suffered only minor bruises in the accident.

During the three hours Saturday that were reserved for the memorial service and reception, Ashland was a ghost town. Businesses along the town’s main street were shuttered, some posting signs saying, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you” and “Closed for funeral.”

It was a bright, sunny, unseasonably warm day in Ashland, but no one was outside their homes raking their yards. No children played in the ball field next to the high school.

The community had virtually gone silent.

Purple and pink ribbons snaked around most of the telephone poles and signs that stood in memory of the sisters.

On a table at the front of the school gymnasium rested pictures of each of the bright-eyed, smiling girls. Flower wreaths and candles surrounded the four urns containing the girls’ ashes, and dozens of bouquets and sprays of flowers lined the gymnasium. Photo collages of the girls and their family intermingled with the flowers.

The pain, shock and grief felt by the community were visible on their faces. Mourners sobbed throughout the service, cradling boxes of tissues that were scattered around the gym, or letting the tears run down their cheeks. Others sat with red, swollen eyes and puffy faces, blotting their teardrops as friends and family remembered the girls in words and song. Those who were not crying simply looked shocked – their eyes blank, their faces pale.

Few of the soloists, poets or speakers could get through their pieces without their voices breaking.

Soloist Shannon Deabay of Oxbow, who sang “Butterfly Kisses” during the service, at times was too overcome to finish the stanzas. She paused several times, covering her mouth with her hands, as if trying to stuff the sobs back in.

Friends recalled Paige Long as a kind, gentle friend, a great listener who worked at the Ashland One Stop and was planning to graduate a year early from Ashland Community High School. The 16-year-old performed community service and was headed for Northern Maine Community College, to study either physical therapy or early childhood development.

Those who remembered Mindy Long spoke of a jovial, physically strong athlete who loved to play ball.

A three-sport athlete, she played soccer, softball and basketball, and most of the pictures of her at the service featured the brown-haired teen with a ball, a bat, or a teammate.

The four sisters were headed to the high school to attend Mindy’s softball game when the accident occurred.

Victoria Basso was the tiny dancer, the pigtailed kindergartner at Ashland Central School. Those who knew her said she possessed the intellect and maturity of a child twice her age. The 5-year-old was described as sharp and motherly, but also as a vivacious sprite who would frequently break into song and dance.

Trinity Basso had not yet entered school, but the curly-haired bug lover had a penchant for watching “Dora the Explorer” and speaking Spanish.

Bill Nemer, a coach at the high school, recalled seeing Trinity at athletic competitions and other school events, supporting her sisters.

Nemer, who coached Mindy Long during her high school career, produced smiles and laughter from the crowd as he recounted his memories of the girls. He also admitted that he, like countless others, was questioning why four bright, sparkling lives had been snuffed out.

“I always tell my kids that everything happens for a reason,” he told the crowd on Saturday. “A lot of us would like to have the answer to explain the reason why this happened.”

The Rev. Donald Morton Jr., who officiated at the service, urged the mourners to continue to pray for and support the family of the four sisters in the coming months.

Joe Basso, the father and stepfather of the four girls, thanked the crowd for its support and asked members of the Ashland Fire and Ambulance Department who were at the service to stand. The men and women were the first on the scene, and the sisters’ cousin Pat Long is the town’s ambulance director.

“Thank you for taking care of my family,” he told them, as the crowd gave the first responders a standing ovation.

The girls’ mother, Deanne Basso, clutched her son, Thomas Long Jr., as the family slipped out of the gymnasium with the four urns. The 13-year-old, once one of five children, is now an only child.

The girls were buried in a private service at Ashland Municipal Cemetery.

As mourners walked to a nearby reception for the family, each was given a small seedling. The trees were donated by Fraser Paper, and friends asked those who attended the ceremony to plant them as long-standing reminders of Paige, Mindy, Victoria and Trinity, and how much they meant to the community.