Grey-Bruce families impacted by devastating Peterborough-area crash

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Family and friends are rallying around a young girl who was the lone survivor of a devastating crash near Peterborough that claimed the lives of four people with connections to Grey and Bruce counties.

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Jon MacDonnell, 46, who grew up in Owen Sound, his wife Stefphanie Hart, 52, and their 18-year-old son Riddick died in the head-on crash between the family’s SUV and a pickup truck that happened just after 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Rowghan, is in Sick Kids hospital in Toronto where she had undergone surgery after sustaining life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the pick-up truck, Jason Schmidt, 42, of Hastings, also died in the crash. Schmidt was originally from Mildmay.

In a news release issued by the Peterborough detachment of the OPP on Wedneday, it said the collision closed Highway 7 between Keene Road and Heritage Line while police investigated. The crash remained under investigation and anyone who may have witnessed it or had video or dash camera footage were being asked to contact the Peterborough OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

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Police thanked the members of the public that assisted first responders at the scene of the collision.

Kathryn Wilson, who worked with Jon and whose daughter Olivia is best friends with Rowghan, said Friday that they were still coming to grips with the tragedy. She said the family – who called themselves the MacHarts after combining their last names – were very close-knit and caring.

“Family was everything and they did everything together,” she said. “My husband and I laughed yesterday because Stefphanie took pictures of everything.

“I have pictures of every trip, every sleepover and every party that my daughter has ever gone to at her house because she captured all of it.”

Wilson said the family had called the area home for almost two decades, and lived in the community of Keene, along with Stefphanie’s parents Donna and Jimmy, who were with Rowghan at hospital in Toronto.

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Mark Perry, station manager at Rogers TV based in Owen Sound, said on Friday that the couple had met through their work at the station more than two decades ago. Stefphanie moved to the Owen Sound area after graduating school and was a producer at the station for about two years, while Jon volunteered there for two or three years before he moved away.

Wilson said she worked alongside both Jon and Stefphanie’s mother Donna at Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child and Family Services in Hiawatha, an Indigenous child well-being agency, which held a virtual circle for the family this week, attended by almost the entire staff of more than 300 people.

Wilson said the couple did everything for Riddick and Rowghan, including dance classes six days a week, competitions every weekend and auditions whenever they could fit them in. They also loved attending Comicon events.

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Jon, who worked in finance, took on multiple jobs in order to cover expenses, including dance and singing lessons, costumes and makeup.

“You name it and he would do it to make it happen,” Wilson said. “They just had the biggest hearts. They would help anybody.”

She said Halloween was the MacHart family’s favourite holiday and that is when Jon and Stefphanie were married. This year Stefphanie put together a haunted house, complete with actors for a new venture of hers. At work this year, Jon made up an elaborate game where finance staff dressed up as different characters and other staff had to put together clues to solve a mystery.

“She just loved all of it and so did Jon,” she said. “He just loved being around other people and laughing.

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“He absolutely was the office clown.”

Stefphanie, who was an educational assistant, worked at many schools with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board throughout her career, Wilson said. She was working at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School this school year.

At the height of the pandemic Stefphanie took time off and Rowghan and Olivia did virtual school at the MacHart home, Wilson added.

“It was the type of people they were. They would do anything for their children and others,” said Wilson. “In my daughter’s phone as her contact, Stefphanie is ‘second mom.’”

The family were also strong supporters of local sports teams, Wilson said.

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers posted to their social media on Thursday that they were devastated to hear about the crash involving the MacHart family as Riddick was their Leo the Laker Lion mascot this season, a role Jon also filled on occasion. The Major Series Lacrosse team added that the family members were “phenomenal” Lakers supporters and they had hoped Rowghan would become one of the team’s dancers next season.

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Wilson set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Donna, Jimmy and Rowghan “through the toughest times of their lives.” The page, “The MacHart Family” had raised more than $6,100 by Friday afternoon. A second GoFundMe page, “Support and costs for the MacHart Family” organized by Tanya Hart, was apporoaching $60,000 raised by Friday afternoon. Wilson said they are forever grateful of the support from others.

Wilson said she had set up her GoFundMe page before knowing of the other one, but the two organizers have talked and decided to keep them both going.

“We are just trying to get as many people from our different lives and areas of work to try to help as best we could,” said Wilson. “We know that Rowghan will be needing as much support as possible.”

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Both pages have been updated to provide the news that Rowghan had undergone surgery, her chance of survival was high and doctors believed she had not sustained any brain or heart injuries.

But Wilson said Friday was expected to be a very hard day for the teen, who turns 14 on Monday (Nov. 28). She had responded to hospital staff and there were plans to remove her breathing tube, with family and the trauma team planning to be there to tell her what had happened.

“We thought the other day was the worst day of her life, but in fact it will be today,” said Wilson.

But she said the teen is in the best place she could be with what she is going through.

“She has the right team of surgeons,” Wilson said, adding that family members have told her one woman they spoke to has been a part of the trauma team at Sick Kids for 25 years.

“It takes a special kind of person to be the one to be there to deliver that kind of news to a child.”

Wilson said they plan to let Rowghan know that they will be there for her.

“My hope is that Rowghan knows how much she is loved and how much they were all loved,” said Wilson. “We won’t stop talking about them.”