Samuel Zawada (23) and his fiancée were killed in a car crash days before their wedding
Published: Apr 01, 2008 @ 2:28 PM
Samuel Zawada (23)
Date: Jun 29, 2006
Cause of Death: Automobile Accident
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
URL: view their profile
A funeral for a former Colorado State University runner and her fiance will be held in the same Tucson church where they were set to be married.
Twenty-one-year-old Valerie McGregor of Tucson and 23-year-old Samuel Zawada were killed in a rollover crash on Interstate 25 in northern New Mexico Thursday.
They had been headed from their home in Arvada, Colorado, to Tucson for the wedding, which was scheduled for next Saturday.
She was a track star and the president of her senior class. He was a hard-edged musician.
Their romance began in high school but ended tragically in a single-vehicle rollover accident on Interstate 25 near Las Vegas, N.M.
Valerie McGregor died at the scene. Samuel Zawada died at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe. That was Thursday, nine days before they were to be married in Tucson.
Family and friends remember the couple as mushy, in love and spiritual.
"Valerie found her soul mate in Sam," said McGregor''s fraternal twin sister, Emily McGregor. "She was such an inspiration, enjoying life to the fullest. And Sam loved to make people laugh. He was so fun, cracking jokes and loving his music."
As McGregor and Zawada traveled to Arizona from their home in Arvada, Colo. Thursday morning, their 2003 Toyota Tacoma drifted onto the shoulder, said New Mexico State Police Lt. Jimmy Glascock.
McGregor overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle. It rolled, and the young couple died, Glascock said.
Before the fatal accident, the two had a week of final wedding preparations planned, including a wedding shower scheduled for Sunday.
"This whole next week was going to be fun," said Elizabeth Piorkowski, McGregor''s grandmother. "She was so high-spirited. She always brought sunshine into my home."
After graduating from Mountain View High School, McGregor moved to Colorado to run track at Colorado State University with her twin sister.
Zawada moved to Colorado to be closer to McGregor. In May, he earned a music degree from the University of Colorado at Denver.
On June 22, he wrote on his Xanga.com blog: "Guess what, two weeks from Saturday I''ll be getting hitched! This is very cool news ... I''m staying tan and trying to look my best for the wedding forthcoming."
His mother, Ann Zawada said the couple was perfect together.
"She was so loving and perky and kind, and she softened him," she said. "He was very, very picky, and she was everything he wanted."
Samuel Zawada went into business for himself, teaching guitar. As McGregor worked at a Denver hospital this summer, Zawada made dinner for her in the new home they bought in May.
"I thought that was very caring," Ann Zawada said. "They were just really mushy-gushy together. Maybe God needed them up there."
Their double funeral will be held in the church where they were to be married.
Viewing is from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Adair Funeral Home, 8090 N. Northern Ave. in Tucson.
The funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at Foothills Community Church, 3301 W. Overton Road.
McGregor and Zawada will be buried next to each other.
« go back to article archive list