‘It hurts so bad’: Wife of David Genereaux speaks out days after his death in Wellington County collision

It was a day that will haunt Sabrina Genereaux for the rest of her life.

"I think the first question I asked the police officer before they even came in the house was if he was dead," Sabrina recalled.

On Dec. 29, her husband David went out to run some errands, leaving Sabrina and their two month old son Jason at home.

When David didn’t return after a few hours, Sabrina knew that something was wrong.

"I was going to go out and look for him, I got the baby ready and everything. I had my hand on the doorknob and there was a knock on the door. There were police officers at my door,"

It was in that moment when her worries quickly spun into a full-fledged nightmare.

"It was just a very horribly bad accident and it hurts me so bad to have lost him," she said.

Emergency services received a report of a two-vehicle crash on the morning of Dec. 29 in the area of Highway 6 and Eighth Line, between Fergus and Guelph.

A pickup truck and an SUV had collided. The driver of the SUV died at the scene while the driver of the pickup was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

OPP later confirmed the deceased was a 40-year-old man from Fergus who was a new father to a two-month old child.

“It's just, I love him so much. It's not fair."

Sabrina says the area where her husband died is notorious for collisions.

There were 14 fatalities in Wellington County throughout 2023, as a result of collisions.

"That area is just horrendous for people driving on it. There's so many accidents there, it's terrible," she said.

COMMUNITY RALLIES AROUND FAMILY

In the wake of the tragedy, the community is rallying around the family, creating a gofundme to help raise money for Sabrina and Jason.

"If I could at least ease the pain a little bit to help them know there's money there for her, for whatever she needs it for moving forward a bit, then my job's done," said family friend, Kimberley Lowe.

So far, over $15,000 has been raised in the span of four days. The goal is to raise $20,000 for Sabrina to use for future expenses.

“Never in my dreams would I have thought this would happen,” Sabrina said. “I never expected that much of anything, I didn’t think people would care that much but that just proved me wrong and it shows me that people are actually really amazing in this community.”

The two women play baseball together for their Monday night league and Lowe says David was always a huge part of the games, constantly cheering them on in the stands.

“David was always a fixture on the ball field. He was an all-around great guy,” she said. “All our ball family is devastated, we are devastated for her.”

Lowe says she’s looking to get something embroidered on their baseball team’s jerseys to honour David at future games.

“We want to keep him alive. He was part of our team, he’s family.”

MEMORY WILL LIVE ON THROUGH SON

Sabrina says David was over the moon to finally become a father, adding that Jason was his pride and joy.

“He was happy to make the dad jokes and to get eyes rolled at him,” she said. “Everybody he would talk to, he would say ‘this is my boy’, all the time he would talk about him and show pictures. He was so proud.”

While David may be gone, he will never be forgotten. Sabrina says his memory will live on through their son.

"He was just a great man and I hope Jason grows up to be like him."