Yahaira Navedo, left, and her daughters Jenesse and Evaniece, right.
A tractor-trailer sits at the side of Route 625, also called New Holland Road, in Brecknock Township, Berks County, after it was involved in a collision with the car, at right, Tuesday afternoon, killing all three of the car's occupants. The truck driver was not injured.
The truck involved in the fatal collision Tuesday afternoon on Route 625 in Brecknock Township.
Witnesses, from left, Jennifer and Shawn Seisler of Brecknock Township and Georgeann and Joseph Smith of Blandon at a fatal accident scene Tuesday afternoon.
Yahaira Navedo cherished her girls.
At 25, she was the proud mother of an energetic 4-year-old named Jenesse and a remarkably peaceful baby named Evaniece.
But in minutes on Tuesday, all three were gone, victims of a fiery collision in Brecknock Township, Berks County.
"She was a great mom," her sister-in-law, Marisol Martinez of West Reading, said Wednesday. "Oh, my gosh, she cherished the girls. Everything was about her girls. They were her life."
On an online MySpace page, Navedo, a former Reading resident, called herself a proud parent.
Photographs of a grinning girl with her new infant sister fill the page, as do shots of Navedo and her husband, Angel, as newlyweds. They married in 2007 and lived in Terre Hill.
Raised in Camden, N.J., by her sister, Brenda, after their mother died when Navedo was 6, Navedo deeply valued the people in her life, giving freely of her time and helping when she could, family members said.
"We valued her as well," Martinez said. "It's a total loss."
Navedo was driving with her daughters to pick up her husband from work when her car collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on Route 625. Brecknock police said her car veered into the truck. They aren't sure why.
The truck driver, Darrell Hensley, 46, of Robesonia, was not injured, police said.
Navedo and her girls died of multiple injuries, according to Berks County Coroner Dennis J. Hess. He said burns were a contributing cause in Jenesse's death.
The coroner's office ruled all three deaths accidental.
Navedo's family has set up a fund through Citizens Bank and is seeking donations to help cover burial costs.
When Navedo didn't arrive to pick up her husband at work Tuesday, Angel knew something was wrong, said Lester E. Young III, a Sinking Spring resident who is married to Angel's sister. Yahaira Navedo was always early, Young said.
Angel got another ride home. A short time later, authorities came to the house.
"He said he knew it before they opened their mouths," Young said. Angel dropped to his knees, he said.
Yahaira Navedo was the family function planner, often the reason relatives saw one another, family members agreed.
"I think she would have wanted to be remembered as a person who had a strong faith in God, a strong belief in family," Young said.
"She had a heart for God," he continued.
"A lot of the things she did, she did in faith. But some of the things she did, she did because she had a good heart."
Contact Michelle Park at 610-371-5022 or mpark@readingeagle.com
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TO DONATE:
Donations to the Navedo Family Memorial Fund may be made at any Citizens Bank location. Donations also may be mailed to Citizens Bank, 956 N. Ninth St., Reading, PA 19604.