9 April 2006
Mother Killed by Train
Brooks - Girls' night out turned tragic after a 29-year-old Brooks woman who tried to
outrun a train was crushed in front of her friend and sister.
Barb Sharp said she and her friends Shelly and Brandy Stuart were heading back to her house after a night on the town around 9 p.m.
Friday night when they tried to "beat the train" while crossing a pedestrian walkway.
"Shelly had made it across and I stopped running and I tried to grab Brandy because it was too close," said Sharp.
"But she kept going and she almost made it but the train caught her foot."
Sharp said she heard the shriek of the CP Rail brakes and Shelly's haunting cries of "my sister, my sister."
"My whole world just stopped," she said.
"It was like being in a nightmare.
"I wish I had grabbed her and I'm so sorry this happened."
Brandy, a wife and the mother of an 18-month-old daughter and a four-year-old son, had recently gone back to
school to upgrade in order to become an interior decorator, say friends. Instead of celebrating her graduation ceremony that was
scheduled for last Saturday night, family and friends are now mourning her death.
Brandy's mother, Marg Baksa, said her daughter was a vibrant, big-hearted young lady.
"Her two kids were her treasures," she said. "They haven't figured it out yet and right now we're just trying to stay
strong for them."
Baksa said she was a single mom for 15 years while raising her two girls and Brandy had always been her
"right-hand-man" when it came to helping out with her younger sister.
The two sisters had stayed close their whole lives and friends say Shelly, 24, who watched Brandy die, is absolutely devastated.
"She just kept pointing to Brandy's shoe," said Sharp.
"And her body was lying about 15 feet away."
Baksa said despite the horrific tragedy, she knows her daughter had a smile on her face when she died.
"She would have been happy because they were just out having a good time," she said.
"She just made a very bad judgment call."
Brooks RCMP said they, along with CP Rail, are continuing to investigate the death.
Brooks is about 185 km east of Calgary.
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