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Reprinted from the Molalla (Oregon) Pioneer Newspaper Sunday crash takes life of recent
MHS grad
A 2011 Molalla High School graduate died Sunday evening in a rural Canby crash just a week after walking across the stage at Capasso Court to receive her diploma. Around 5 p.m. on June 12, a northbound blue 1991 Honda Civic driven by Tirzah Rose Fox, 19, of Molalla collided with a white 2003 Honda Odyssey just north of S. Gribble Road on Highway 170 in Canby, said Det. Jim Strovink, public information officer for Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. Fox was pronounced dead on the scene. The occupants of the Odyssey, driver Dennis Wayne Reynolds, 62, and his wife, Holly Reynolds, 54, of rural Canby, were transported by ambulance to Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital with non life-threatening injuries, said Troy Buzalsky, public information officer for Canby Fire District. It is unknown what caused Fox’s car to travel into the oncoming lane, but investigators believe she may have been looking in her purse or counting the money that was found lying in her lap, Strovink said. She was believed to be on her way to meet a friend to purchase a television. “She may have been distracted,” Strovink said.
“It was clearly evident that she just crossed the
(center) line.”
The accident occurred in a 55 mph speed zone, resulting in a high impact collision. Brent Hall, a drama teacher at Molalla High School who worked on several theatre productions with Fox during her time as a MHS student, said she will be missed greatly and remembered as an inspiration. “She was kind, she was gentle, she was working hard,” Hall said. “She had overcome so much.” He said Fox was a reminder that “you can do well if you seriously want to. You can build a better life for yourself. You can do more, even if your life is hard.” “She was one of the ones who I thought would come back in 10 years and tell me about the good life she was living,” he said. Fox performed in the MHS production of “Macbeth” and also served as stage manager for several shows, including “The Sound of Music,” which MHS produced during her freshman year. “She was the first freshman I ever used as a stage manager, but she wanted the job and she did a really good job at it, too,” Hall said. “It was a privilege to work with her.” Hall also said Fox loved children, volunteering in a children’s classroom at her church and entertaining his two young daughters during rehearsals when he and his wife were co-directing a show. “She was always thinking of others,” he said. Fox is the second member of the MHS Class of 2011 to be killed in a car accident this year. In January, senior Jessica Haney also lost her life in a wreck.
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