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Teen killed in crash made everyone smile

Becky Bosshart
Chad Lundquist / Tribune News Service/ A makeshift memorial to Bridget Chambers, 17, stands alongside Highway 395 in Douglas County. The teen died Friday evening in a car accident near Stephanie Way.
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GARDNERVILLE – Bridget Noel Chambers, 17, loved pigs, kept a duckling named Daisy as a pet and purchased her first car only about two weeks ago.

Chambers died Friday night while driving that white 1996 Toyota Corolla with her twin brother, Steven, and two friends.

Terri Chambers said Monday that her daughter was happy to be 17, to have freedom and to spend her time with friends.



“She just bought the car,” Chambers said. ” It was the car she had dreamed about. She was on cloud nine. She loved that car more than anything in the world. She’d only had it for a week and a half. She was having so much fun driving around with friends.”

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Todd Hartline said the teen was driving north on Highway 395 at 6 p.m. Friday when she was struck by a silver 2005 GMC utility vehicle driven by 79-year-old Forrest Ladd, of Minden.



The NHP reported that Ladd was southbound on Highway 395 when he attempted to turn left onto Stephanie Way in Douglas County. He turned in front of the 17-year-old’s Toyota, hitting the driver’s side. Chambers died while en route to Carson-Tahoe Hospital in Carson City.

Her twin brother sustained moderate to serious injuries. Steven Chambers was taken by Care Flight helicopter to Washoe Medical Center and is expected to be released before Bridget’s funeral on Friday.

A young Gardnerville woman had minor injuries from the accident. The fourth occupant of the car, a young man from South Lake Tahoe, reported no injuries.

Citations are pending in the highway patrol’s investigation, Hartline said. Ladd was traveling at about 5 to 10 mph when he hit Chambers, who was driving about 65 miles per hour.

“He failed to yield the right-of-way,” Hartline said. “Either he misjudged the vehicle’s speed or he didn’t see it coming.”

The Chamberses moved to Gardnerville in January 2002 from Tujunga, a suburb of Los Angeles.

“The thing about Bridget is she was always, in every group, in every situation, the most loving and vivacious and caring person,” her mother said. “And Bridget was funny. All her friends would tell you that she’s just funny. She loved to make her friends laugh.”

Steven fractured several ribs in the accident, has a broken clavicle and injuries to his spleen. Chambers said her son will be released today or Wednesday. Bridget is also survived by her father, Richard, her older sister, Jamie, and older brother, Jeff.

Bridget’s funeral service will be 10 a.m. Friday at St. Gall Catholic Church in Gardnerville.


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