Remembering a tragic loss

Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt’s gravesite at Oak Grove Cemetery.

January 2006 started out optimistically for Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt. Newly married and eagerly planning to build a home on their new “estate” in Ann Arbor, Amy detailed their year of 2005 in a post-holiday letter to her friends and family. She good-naturedly poked fun at her letter, realizing that half of its recipients would be dismayed by yet another holiday missive but the other half would “love” reading it.

But early in the year, on the morning of January 7, 2006, tragedy struck. After serving two years on the Manchester Township Fire Department as its first female firefighter, Amy was in her eighth year as a career firefighter on the Ann Arbor Fire Department, a job that was her “lifelong dream,” according to her sister. Her passion and determination for helping others led her on the path to that moment. She had studied both Nursing and Education while at Eastern Michigan University, the former after working for three years at what was then Saline Hospital.

On that icy morning, the AAFD was responding to a multiple-car accident on I-94 near the Jackson Road entrance ramp. Among the first on the scene, Amy and her officer attempted to assess the severity of injuries to drivers of the vehicles involved in the crash. A pickup truck that was not involved in the initial incident lost control, struck the median wall, struck another vehicle, and then struck Amy from behind. The company officer was also struck, but came to her side to provide assistance.

Six agonizing days later, Amy was taken off life support. On Jan. 17, the skies cried along with Manchester as on  a rain-drenched afternoon, the body of Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt was laid to rest at Oak Grove Cemetery. After a tearful 90-minute funeral service, open to the public, was held at Crisler Arena, the lengthy funeral procession included a black-draped Ann Arbor Fire Department vehicle carrying her casket, which passed under an arch formed by ladder trucks from the Chelsea Area Fire Authority and the Pittsfield Township Fire Department at the intersection of Clinton and Main Streets, as it passed through town.

Business downtown came to a standstill as hundreds of local residents paused to silently pay respect as a half-hour procession, including more than 100 fire, ambulance, and police vehicles from across the state and at least an equal number of personal vehicles, passed by.

Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt

Amy was born in Ann Arbor on March 6, 1971, and grew up on the family farm in Sharon Township. She was a member of the class of 1989 at Manchester High School and a 1997 graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Amy had joined the Manchester Township Fire Department as its first female firefighter in 1996 and became a member of the Ann Arbor department two years later. Upon joining the Manchester Township Fire Department, she said she had dreamed of becoming a firefighter. “I’ve waited a very long time for this and my dream has finally come true,” she said at the time.

Her zest for life was contagious, and she lived it to the fullest. She is remembered as an excellent hostess who loved water sports, her friends, and her family. Amy’s legacy of caring and kindness lives on in those who remember her — especially her family and her co-workers. But there is someone else who remembers her each year at this time, too.

Burrill Strong, a Chelsea-area photographer and writer, was in one of the 13 vehicles in the pileup that Saturday morning. After spinning off the road, he watched a number of vehicles lose control until one of them slammed into the front of his car. The car was totaled, but Strong was only bruised. He saw, while he was sitting there, that one of the firefighters appeared to have been struck by a vehicle. He didn’t learn until later what had actually happened.

He wrote a year later, around the anniversary of Amy’s death, “Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt, along with the rest of the firefighters, put herself in obvious danger to protect the lives of strangers, of whom I was one. Instead of waiting for the highway to be closed, the firefighters risked their lives — a very real risk in a very dangerous situation — in an effort to ensure the safety of motorists they didn’t know. It is absolutely tragic that she was killed in an accident beyond anyone’s control, but she gave her life while helping a group of people she didn’t know.

“She gave her life in the service of others, and that is selfless and admirable. It is what I will remember about a woman I never knew who gave herself for those she never knew.”

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.