BOWLING GREEN — Kayla Somoles and Angelica Mormile feel like they’re home.
Six months after the wrong-way crash that killed three of their sorority sisters, the two Bowling Green State University students are back to school, back to living at the Alpha Xi Delta sorority house on campus. Most of their physical wounds have healed, but they said in an interview Thursday that they are still healing emotionally.
“Mentally I think I’ll always have to heal,” Ms. Somoles said. “But I’m happy I’m here. I’m happy I’m back to being normal Kayla.”
Ms. Somoles, 20, of Parma, Ohio, and Ms. Mormile, 19, of Garfield Heights, Ohio, were the lone survivors of a fiery March 2 crash on I-75 that occurred when Winfred “Dawn” Lein, 69, of Perrysburg Township drove southbound in the northbound lanes of the interstate just north of Bowling Green and struck their car head on. Lein was killed along with three others in the girls’ car: the driver, Christina Goyett, 19, of Bay City, Mich., and passengers, Sarah Hammond, 21, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Rebekah Blakkolb, 20, of Aurora, Ohio.
The girls had just left Bowling Green to drive to Detroit Metro Airport to catch an early morning flight for a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic when the crash occurred. Investigators never were able to determine why Lein was driving the wrong way.
Ms. Somoles and Ms. Mormile spent several weeks at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after the crash and spent much of the summer continuing their recovery in therapy near their Cleveland area homes.
“I feel like it’s a complete miracle. All of this is a miracle and it’s such a blessing,” Ms. Mormile said.
The two young women will be recognized Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium before the Falcons’ 7 p.m. home opener football game against the University of Idaho.
First Published September 6, 2012, 9:13 p.m.