Family and friends packed a church in north suburban Gurnee Saturday afternoon to say their final farewells to a girl who died in a car crash earlier this week.
"She was only 15, and no 15-year-old makes smart decisions every time. … and that’s why we need God’s grace," Phil Stinchcomb said through tears at a service for his niece, Taylor Stinchcomb.
The teen took her dog in her parents mini-van after learning the pet would have to be put down because of cancer. She picked up a friend and then turned the driving over to her.
That friend, who has not been identified, apparently lost control of the vehicle and crashed into trees and a utility pole in unincorporated Grayslake. Stinchcomb and the dog did not survive the crash.
"Because of her tremendous passion for her pet dog, Romulus, who was very, very sick, she made a risky decision late Monday night to take our car and her dog and a friend. She did this without our knowledge and without the forethought that we would have hoped she would have had at that time," said Phil Stinchcomb, reading words prepared by the girl's parents.
A picture of Taylor and her doberman pinscher, Romulus, hung inside the Immuanuel Church of Gurnee. Many of the mourners wore shirts and tops of lime green, Stinchcomb’s favorite color.
In that same reading, the teen was remembered as a girl who was accomplished in many sports and very loving.
"She loved her Lord, she loved her family and friends, and she loved animals,” her uncle said.
