A Message from the Groves Family and a Call to Send Love to Her Rescuers

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Jan. 12, Kelli Groves, a popular teacher at , was driving north on Highway 101 when her car was clipped from behind by a big rig, pushing her halfway off a bridge. The t and killing the driver. Rescue workers, with the help of a forklift loaned by some passing Navy Seabees, were able to extricate Groves, her 10-year-old daughter, Sage, and her then-10-week-old daughter, Milo. Although the baby was unscathed, Groves and Sage for eight days. They came home to San Juan Capistrano on Friday. Here's a note she wrote to her extended family at Del Obispo, where she not only teaches, but is a parent to two students -- her daughter Sage and a son. The school published it Thursday.

Dear Del Obispo Families,

    We cannot thank you enough for all of the love and support you continue to give our family. The accident on January 12th has forever changed our lives, both physically and emotionally.  Now that we are home, we will have to settle into a new "normal." So many of you have offered your help in any way needed, and we are so appreciative of that. We have immediate needs and then some needs down the line that we aren't even aware of. We have a very long road of healing ahead of us and are grateful for those of you travelling it with us.   

    ...

    One of the greatest gifts you could give us would be for your family to write a Valentine letter of appreciation to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Navy Seabees, and CHP Buellton Division for their heroic efforts in saving our lives. They are true heroes and deserving of infinite "thank yous."  Please put all letters in an envelope with the name of the recipient on the front. All valentines can be brought in to the Del Obispo office by MONDAY, February 6th, where there are separate boxes for each of these rescue agencies. We hope to send at least 100 valentines to each of them, and we thank you in advance for your time and participation. 

    We appreciate your patience in hearing from us. As you can imagine, this has been very traumatic and we have needed our time to begin the healing, which we have done. At the same time, we remain concerned for and extend our prayers to the family and loved ones of Charles Allison Jr., the truck driver who lost his life in this horrible accident.

     Again, all of you are embraced as our extended family and we send you our most sincere gratitude for your continued thoughts, gifts, and prayers... and our loudest Dragon ROAR!!!

With love,

Kelli, Jason, Sage, Wylder, and Mylo Groves

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And a message from Principal Eric Gruenewald:

I would like to thank all of our families who have been patient and understanding while waiting to hear an update/information about Mrs. Groves and her family. I understand many people wanted to get information right away, but at first, the family requested support in the way of their privacy. I appreciate everyone allowing Mrs. Groves and her family to have their privacy while they tend to the most important thing a person can share…the health of their family.  

 – Mr. G.