Baldinwsinville, N.Y. — Mailboxes across Lysander neighborhoods are decorated this weekend with purple and teal ribbons.
Some of the ribbons are silky and solid colored, while others are polka dotted or gauzy. Most are looped in bows around the base of plastic mailboxes, porch posts and lamps.
But all of the brightly colored ribbons have been hung with the same purpose: Remembering the lives of two little girls who called Baldwinsville home.
Sisters Maryella Annal, 11, and Elizabeth Annal, 9, died Thursday morning when their family’s minivan was rear-ended by a pickup truck on the New York State Thruway.
The girls’ parents, Maureen and Thomas Annal, were seriously injured and airlifted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Saturday evening, Maureen, 50, was in guarded condition and Thomas, 54, was in satisfactory condition, the hospital reported.
Purple and teal – the color of the ribbons tied outside Lysander and Baldwinsville - were the sisters’ favorite colors.
The accident happened at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 90 west near the Junius Ponds rest stop in Seneca County, about 45 miles west of Syracuse.
The family’s minivan was slowing down for a lane closure when a pickup truck didn’t slow down and rammed into the back of the van, the New York State Police said.
After it was rear-ended, the minivan hit a car. That car then hit a tractor-trailer.
The driver of the pickup truck -- Abraham Hara, 73, of Gevena – was not injured. Police have said charges are pending.
This is the stretch of the New York state Thruway where police say a pickup truck plowed into a Central New York family’s minivan, killing two children and injuring their parents, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020
The accident has shocked the tight-knit Baldwinsville-area community.
Maryella and Elizabeth had attended L. Pearl Palmer Elementary School. The school’s principal, Alex Ewing, announced the deaths of the two “Palmer penguins” in an email sent to parents.
“Please keep Maryella, Elizabeth and family in your thoughts,” Ewing wrote.
The community has poured out its grief and support for the Annal family on Facebook and other social media.
In comments on announcements and news stories, people prayed for strength for the Annal parents and for a peaceful life after death for their girls. Dozens of parents and grandparents, with their hearts sympathetically aching, shared the same sentiment: We cannot imagine the family’s pain.
Over and over, friends and acquaintances and co-workers wrote about the Annals’ love for their girls.
“Anyone who knows this family knows the absolute love and devotion between them,” one woman wrote. “It is my only consolation.”
The family were long-time members of St. Mary’s Church in Baldwinsville, according to a church announcement. The church plans a virtual candlelight prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Sunday - it is distributing candles to church members and asking people to light them as they watch the service from their homes.
Maureen Annal volunteered her time to support her daughters’ school community, serving as the secretary of the L. Pearl Palmer Elementary School PTA, according to the association’s website. She is an assistant administrator at McHarrie Life Senior Community in Baldwinsville, according to her Linkedin profile.
Thomas Annal, a longtime state Department of Conservation employee, told Veronica LaRiviere – his friend and coworker of more than 30 years – that he wanted to retire next year so he could spend more time with his daughters, LaRiviere said.
“He’s an amazing person … very dedicated to his family,” she said.
The Annals’ neighbors, both near their home and in surrounding neighborhoods, wanted to help the family. They have organized donations and gift cards.
They also discovered Elizabeth and Maryella’s favorite colors, a neighbor said, and decided to deck the streets in purple and teal.
Neighbors and friends this weekend made bows of purple and teal ribbons and distributed them to be displayed at homes and businesses.
In one yard, folding tables were set up and more than a dozen women and girls worked to make bows out of the ribbons.
People wanted to send the grieving a family a message, one neighbor said: We are here for you.
Purple and teal ribbons have been hung in the Baldwinsville area this weekend in memory of sisters Maryella Annal, 11, and Elizabeth Annal, 9, who were killed Thursday morning in a crash on the Thruway. This photo was taken on Killoe Road in Lysander. Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com
Staff writer Julie McMahon contributed to this report.
Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syracuse.com.
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