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Wreck staggers family, friends

By Stephen Gurr
sgurr@onlineathens.com

Jessica Hanna radiated a warmth and empathy that shined in many ways, from her work as a nurse to her care for stray animals to her role as mother to her two toddlers.
At 34, her life revolved around Heather, 3, and Benjamin, 2, whom she raised with her husband, Jonathan, in their Watkinsville home. After Benjamin's birth she switched to working nights at St. Mary's Hospital's labor and delivery department so she could devote more time to the children. Before then she worked in the hospital's home health care department, a role that suited her perfectly, her co-workers said.
''Patients just loved her,'' said Bonnie Butler, director of the hospital's Community Care Services, who knew Hanna for six years. ''She had a great empathy for people, and sometimes that's as important as technical skills.''
Grief-stricken colleagues, family and friends will see Hanna and her two young children to rest today in a 2 p.m. memorial service at Lord and Stephens Funeral Home in Bogart. The mother and her young children died Tuesday morning when her car collided head-on with a pickup truck on Colham Ferry Road in central Oconee County.
''There's great sadness and concern for her family,'' Butler said. ''Anytime you have this level of tragedy, certainly there's a sense of disbelief.''
Butler spoke of a woman with a sunshine disposition whose long, brown ponytail bounced with the enthusiastic spring in her step. A lover of nature and animals, Hanna saw that strays got a home and held fast to her environmentalist beliefs.
In tribute to that love of the Earth and its creatures, family members have asked that memorial contributions be given to Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail. Presumably it was a favorite place.
Butler said young Benjamin and Heather were like their mother in at least one way: ''They had her same sweet, gentle nature.''
And while she endured a difficult pregnancy with Heather, her enthusiasm for being a mother never waned, something she shared in her work as a nurse in the labor ward.
''I think she enjoyed the whole process of being pregnant so much,'' Butler said. ''She had that same sunny spirit throughout.''
And while one family struggles to make sense of its profound loss, another hangs on desperately to hope. The driver of the truck that collided with Hanna, noted University of Georgia Ph.D. Gary Dudley, remains in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital. His prognosis for recovery, according to family members, is day-to-day.
Dudley, a 49-year-old research professor in exercise science, is director of the muscle biology lab at the School of Health and Human Performance in UGA's College of Education. Last year he launched a collaborative research initiative with the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
''He's one of the top researchers in UGA's push toward bio-health research,'' said College of Education spokesman Mike Childs.
For now, questions surrounding the catastrophic wreck remain unanswered. The Georgia State Patrol is fairly sure one car crossed the centerline, but an investigation of the wreck hasn't been completed.
The answers likely will do little to ease the pain felt by friends of Jessica Hanna.
''Everyone loved her,'' Butler said.


Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, July 12, 2002.