Jennifer Goonan was just hours away from graduating magna cum laude from Germanna Community College.

But she never made it to the ceremony Tuesday. The 24-year-old died that afternoon in a crash at an intersection on State Route 3 in western Spotsylvania County.

The crash happened about 3:30 p.m., when Goonan made a left turn from westbound Route 3 onto Orange Plank Road, crossing in front of oncoming traffic, where the speed limit is 55 mph, according to the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office.

An eastbound flatbed supply truck slammed into Goonan's Mazda sedan, sending both vehicles into the wooded median. Authorities said it appears Goonan turned when the signal was a flashing arrow, meaning she should have yielded to oncoming traffic.

Goonan wasn't alone in those final moments. A fellow Germanna student and another woman stopped to try to help her.

Harmonie Proctor, a 42-year-old mother of three studying to be a medical assistant, pulled up to the scene just after the crash. She maneuvered her car through vehicle debris on the oil-slicked highway and pulled off.

Proctor and the other woman approached the crumpled Mazda. Proctor said the front end of the car was basically obliterated.

The women wanted to help Goonan, but needed assistance from a few men to remove the car door.

Proctor said she quickly knew it was bad. The young woman had suffered a severe head injury and was unconscious. She checked Goonan's pulse, which was rapid—a bad sign, she said.

"I was shook up because I've never seen anything like that," Proctor said days after the deadly crash. "I just grabbed her hand and said, 'We're here, you're not alone.' "

An EMT arrived and soon told them that Goonan "was gone."

"There was no chance," Proctor said.

Proctor didn't know Goonan, and at the time of the crash did not know the young woman was also a Germanna student. But she soon discovered how close their paths had been.

Shortly after Proctor got home, not far from the crash, she learned that Goonan lived with her family about a mile from her own home. She went to the Goonan family's home to tell them what happened.

The family told her Goonan was on her way to her best friend's home in the Lake Wilderness neighborhood to get her makeup done for graduation.

Since the crash, Proctor has received many messages from people who knew Goonan.


"She's obviously touched so many people," she said. "I believe she's going to be an angel because so many people said she was a shining light."

Goonan's Facebook page shows her to be a happy-go-lucky, positive young woman who loved animals, especially dogs, and was excited to have finished her Germanna studies. She had earned an associate of arts and sciences degree in general studies with a certificate in general education.

Professors and others at Germanna remembered Goonan just as she appears on her Facebook page and as the messages to Proctor indicated.

"Jennifer's loss will be felt for years to come," math instructor Grace Cellucci, who taught Goonan, wrote in an email about her former student.

She described Goonan as "an effervescent, strong capable young lady who wasn't afraid to speak up in class, or to get assistance when she needed it. She was a hard worker and was very conscious of her level of performance in her work and her grades.

"She had many friends and was very relaxed and open around other people. She was funny and entertaining. She used humor to bring the class together. She had a bright future ahead of her and she was a stellar Germanna student."

"The loss is huge," Tina M. Pollnow, a Germanna professor who knows Goonan's family, wrote in an email to the community college's president. Pollnow's children grew up with the young woman and attended St. Patrick School in Fredericksburg with her.

Germanna President Janet Gullickson wrote about the impact Goonan's death in an email to staff.

"All of us at Germanna are heartbroken to see one so young with so much promise snatched away suddenly on a day that should have been a joyous one," Gullickson wrote. "Our deepest condolences go out to Jennifer's family."