Girl Scouts Remember Lori and Kayla Donohue

Brewster Girl Scouts plant the Donohue Memorial Garden in Southeast. Photos by Robyn Scinta It’s been two years since the world turned upside down for a Brewster family—24 months of mourning, remembering and healing.

On June 8, 2009, shortly after 6:30 pm, a speeding truck being driven by an intoxicated man barreled down Brewster’s Main Street and struck Lori and Kayla Donohue as they were leaving the Seven Stars School of Performing Dance.

Kayla, 8, was killed instantly while her 37-year-old mother suffered massive trauma and died several hours later at the Westchester Medical Center.

The driver of the truck, Conses Zacarias-Garcia, an illegal immigrant in the U.S. from Guatemala, was sentenced to 25 years in state prison after pleading guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter.

Last weekend, members of Brewster Girl Scout Troop 1439 conducted their 2nd annual K Day at Scolpino Park in Southeast—a day of softball and fun that was attended by 160 girls from the greater Brewster area.

The plaque has been placed on a large stone at the Scolpino Park for all to see. Troop leader Robyn Scinta recalled that “softball was Kayla’s favorite sport.”

Scouts planted a memorial garden while wearing shirts that read “Together We can Change the World!”

Lori Donohue’s former co-workers at the Dorian Drake Corporation manned a concession stand with all proceeds turned over to a fund that helped pay for a memorial stone that is engraved: “For our Friend—Kayla Donohue. A Circle is Round and has No End. That’s how long I want to be Your Friend.”

The Donohue family joined the scouts for the ceremony which was culminated by the dedication of the monument and garden.

Co-scout leader Cyndi Beal said the girls “lived up to their pledge: ‘To be a sister to every Girl Scout.’ Our girls built courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place.”

Except for a brief statement issued at Garcia’s sentencing in Putnam County Court, Robert Donohue, Lori’s husband and Kayla’s dad, has shied away from the media. His father-in-law, John Luhrs called the deaths “senseless. Bob and his eight year old son Christopher will always remember what could have been had a man decided not to drink and get behind the wheel of a pickup truck.”

Scinta hopes the garden will give the family comfort knowing “each time they visit they will understand that the community is mourning their loss as well.”