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Sarah Stride, killed in highway crash, remembered as kind and fearless

The 18-year-old driver killed when two vehicles collided head-on near Bellevue was an air cadet who lived in St. Lawrence.

Stride, 18, will be buried in Lewisporte on Friday

A bent guardrail marks the site of a fatal crash on the Trans-Canada Highway. Sarah Stride, 18, was one of four people killed. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)

An 18-year-old resident of St. Lawrence who died in a head-on crash on the Trans-Canada Highway is being remembered as a vivacious air cadet who loved animals and musical theatre.

Sarah Anne Stride was behind the wheel of a Honda Pilot on Sunday when an SUV veered into her lane, killing her and injuring her 16-year-old male passenger. 

All three people in the other vehicle, Michael and Paula Ryan of Conception Bay South and their son Michael, 11, were also killed.

In an obituary published Tuesday, Stride is described as "fearless, always willing to try something new. She was fun-loving, caring and a champion for the special needs and less fortunate."

Police said a van driven by Stride was westbound when it was struck by an eastbound SUV that veered across two lanes. (Hope Green)

Stride was involved in musical theatre at her high school, volunteered at the hockey rink where her brother played, and was an air cadet.

Messages of condolences also indicate that she worked at Walmart in Marystown, where customers talked about her smile and outgoing personality.

While Stride lived on the Burin Peninsula at the time of her death, her family has connections across the country — in British Columbia, where she organized a yearly food drive for the Share Program, and in Grande Prairie, Alta., where donations in her memory can be made to the Peace Area Riding for the Disabled Society.

Stride leaves to mourn her parents, Craig and Glenda Stride, and brother, Geoff.

A funeral service is scheduled for the Salvation Army church in Lewisporte at 11 a.m. on Sept. 1.