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Tuesday - 7 June 2005 @ 2:51:47 am - Subscribe

* Megan Diane Oleksy
I feel... bothered


I haven't blogged in awhile, but I'm having a very tough time right now. My friend Diane died last Tues [31st] and it's just a really tough time... she was such a beautiful person and her prom and graduation were so close...



Classmates of Megan Diane Oleksy covered the pavement outside Iroquois High School with chalk tributes after learning of the death of the 17-year-old in a crash at Four Rod and Bullis roads Tuesday afternoon.
"A true gift from above," wrote one friend. "You've brightened so many lives with your contagious laugh and smile."
Oleksy, a senior at Iroquois known to her friends by her middle name Diane, was traveling northbound on Four Rod Road when she failed to stop or yeild the right of way to a westbound garbage truck, Erie County Sheriff's deputies said.

The crash occurred at about 3:55 p.m.

The driver of the garbage truck, Michael P. Swartz, 29, of Marilla, tried to avoid the collission, but struck Oleksy's car on the passenger's side, deputies said.


Mercy Flight took Oleksy, of Clinton Street in Marilla, to the Erie County Medical Center, where she later died.

An investigation into the crash is continuing, deputies said.

Flags were lowered to half staff Wednesday in memory of Oleksy, who was a member of the school's cheerleading squad.

"This is an exteremely sad time for all of us at Iroquois," School Superintendent Neil A. Rochelle wrote in a letter to parents, faculty and staff Wednesday.

"Iroquois is like a family," he added. "When one of us hurts, we all hurt. We are here to support each other and support our students and staff."

Counselors from Iroquois and the East Aurora School District are on hand at the school to meet with students this week, Rochelle said. "I have also invited some area clergy for those who wish to speak with them."

Oleksy had received a scholarship to St. Bonaventure University in the fall.


"While there is never a good time for a tragedy such as this, it is particularly difficult as students are looking forward to their senior awards ceremony, their prom and their graduation."

According to friends, Oleksy was fond of the character Ariel in Disney's "The Little Mermaid."

"We will never forget our Little Mermaid," one chalk message outside the school said.

Oleksy had just dropped her mother off at work when the crash occurred, authorities said. She received her driver's license last week.

Oleksy had faced adversity in her own life. Her father died of cancer when she was a child, and her brother died last fall.

"Diane was a young lady who has faced quite a bit of adversity in her short life but at the same time had a spirit and a smile that could brighten a room," Rochelle said, adding, "As evidenced by the outpouring of sorrow and support from her friends and classmates last night and this morning, I know that she will be missed."

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