In a community as small as the one Ainsley Swance grew up in, it’s not hard to find lives the nine-year-old touched.
Start at Emily Stowe Public School.
Although not in Swance’s home community of Otterville – it’s located just up the road in Norwich – it’s where she and hundreds of her peers went to school.
“She was a friend to many,” says principal Lisa Munro.
“She was a ray of sunshine – always positive – and will be greatly missed.”
Swance died Sunday morning when the car she was in crashed with an agricultural sprayer while attempting to turn left off of Main Street.
She was one of four children in the car, with her mother driving.
Witnesses say other family members were in the area, and immediately rushed to the family’s aid.
Firefighters arrived and were able to use the Jaws of Life to rip the roof off the car, getting the other passengers to safety.
For Swance, it was already too late.
Norwich fire chief Bob Parsons says some of his firefighters know the Swance family, which made the situation even more difficult.
“We’ll give them the care they need and ease them back in the job,” he says.
Counsellors are also available for staff and students at Emily Stowe, while flowers were left at the intersection where the crash occurred.
The crash has shone a new spotlight on the safety of Main Street, where some residents have been calling for an all-way stop for several years.
“There are people who drive through town too fast,” says nearby resident Anthony Hussey.
OPP say they don’t expect to lay charges in relation to the crash.
