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Families struggle to grasp losses

In an instant, three lives are ended by a traffic wreck Wednesday. Those left behind try to deal with the shock.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published September 2, 2005

SPRING HILL - Today, Sandy Margotta and her son, Jim, would have been in Scranton, Pa., where they were born, visiting family, celebrating Aunt June's 70th birthday.

Sandy was excited about the trip, her husband, Michael, recalled. On Wednesday night, she and Jim, 18, should have been packing their suitcases.

But Sandy, a surgical secretary at Spring Hill Regional Hospital, never made it home.

She hadn't been gone long Wednesday afternoon, so Michael and Jim might not have realized something had happened if Sandy didn't always make a point of checking in when she went anywhere.

She didn't want people to worry.

Michael and Jim were worried.

They called 911. There had been a serious accident on State Road 50, they learned. It was only a few minutes away. They hopped in the truck, took Barclay Avenue to SR 50, and saw three Florida Highway Patrol cars in a gas station parking lot. The troopers were about to leave. Michael pulled his truck in front of their cars so they couldn't.

He asked them if they'd been to the accident. Yes. Was it a PT Cruiser? Yes. Blue and silver, the colors of Sandy's favorite hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning?

Yes.

Jim's legs gave way. Michael refused to believe it just yet.

"I kept grasping at straws, even though the evidence was obvious, trying to get them to say something to (indicate it wasn't) her," Michael, 57, said Thursday afternoon in the Tyringham Street home he had shared with his wife and son.

Michael pointed to a green and tan purse on the dining room table.

The trooper, Michael said, "came over with that purse, and that's when I knew. It's rather distinctive. She bought it on eBay."

Said Jim: "It's still full of broken glass."

Sandy Margotta was killed shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday. A Mitsubishi Diamante crossed the SR 50 median near Sunshine Grove Road and smashed head-on into her westbound PT Cruiser.

She was alone in the car. Had she left the house just a little later, Jim would have been with her, he said, having gotten off work at the Publix supermarket at Barclay and Spring Hill Drive.

The two men in the Mitsubishi also died at the scene. The driver was identified Thursday as Marvin Lawson II, 24, of 3000 Barbados Ave. in Spring Hill. The FHP identified his passenger as Zacarias Garcia Jr., 18, of Homosassa.

Jerry Pugh, a witness to the accident, told the Times he believed the Mitsubishi was going fast, "maybe 70 mph," when it crossed the median for about 100 yards and plowed into the PT Cruiser. The FHP is investigating.

Hernando court records indicate Lawson had received several driving citations in recent years.

He was cited for careless driving in May 2001, and he received four speeding citations within the past two years. The most recent was in May , when he was cited for driving more than 15 mph over the speed limit.

Thursday afternoon, Lawson's sister, Linda, answered the door at the Spring Hill home of their father.

"We are so, so sorry for the family of the lady," said Linda Lawson.

"I just feel it's really important to say how loving and kind my brother is and that he would surely never hurt anybody," she said. "He's a very loving and kind person."

Jenna Rohr of Floral City is the mother of Marvin Lawson's 71/2-month-old daughter, Alexis. She said Marvin Lawson had been living with her for about 18 months.

Lawson and Zacarias Garcia, who went by "Zach," worked for her parents' cabinetry business in Brooksville.

"He'd just gotten back from a job in Hernando Beach and was going to put up some drywall for his dad," Rohr said, weeping. "All he wanted was to be a father."

Some of Sandy Margotta's friends joined Michael and Jim on Thursday afternoon to help them through their loss. Her dog, Zoey, who slept on Sandy's lap every evening, cried behind a closed bedroom door.

"She loved animals, and she loved babies," recalled Vikki Farrow, who wore a yellow Tampa Bay Lightning polo shirt. Farrow and her husband, Larry, had known Sandy for about 10 years.

"Anyone who knew Sandy just knew she was a loving, happy person," Larry Farrow said.

Michael Margotta used to work as a funeral director, he said, but he had gotten burned out on the business. His late father, James, also was a funeral director.

"I've dealt with a lot of families in the funeral business," Michael said Thursday. "And it's like my dad once said: Until you sit in that first chair, you just never know what it's like."

Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com 352 754-6117.

[Last modified September 2, 2005, 02:15:35]