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Family, local epilepsy community mourn two killed in crash near Manila

Posted at 10:14 PM, Aug 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-09 12:58:19-04

MANILA, Utah — A mother has lost both her husband and her daughter.

They were killed in a vehicle accident on Monday on SR-44 south of Manila.

The Mathews-Edson family was driving after a weekend of camping. Mother, Angie Mathews told FOX 13 News she was in the driver’s seat for the majority of the scenic drive they chose to take after the rain had stopped. But she became tired and asked her husband to drive. They switched seats.

“I asked my husband if he would drive and he said ‘yeah’ he was fine,” said Angie Mathews. “I got in the passenger seat and fell asleep right away.”

She said she woke up as they were rolling over. Daggett County Sheriff’s Office deputies said they rolled their van at least three times.

“I was calm up until that point (when she heard her daughter did not have a pulse) and then when I knew that she was gone and I said ‘Oh my gosh, my daughter is dead and my husband is dead’ and I had no tears,” described Angie. “I was crying but I had no tears.”

Their van had five people inside. Angie’s husband of almost 12 years, 47-year-old Mark Mathews, was killed. Angie’s daughter, 25-year-old Sage Edson, was thrown 30 feet from the vehicle onto the road and died.

Edson’s 25-year-old friend was sitting behind the passenger seat. She was seriously hurt, according to Angie, and is recovering. Angie and Mark’s 11-year-old son Jeremiah was hurt but is also OK.

“I feel very blessed that I still have Jeremiah and I still have Sage's friend with us but definitely the loss of my daughter and my husband are very, very devastating,” said Angie.

Their entire family is heavily involved in the Epilepsy Association of Utah. Three of their children, Caden Frank, Sage Edson, and Jeremiah Mathews have epilepsy.

Doug Rice is vice president of the association and spoke about the board’s loss.

“Mark was our volunteer coordinator,” said Rice. “He was passionate about bringing awareness about epilepsy so people would not be afraid of it.”

They recently had a summer camp for epileptic children.

“The daughter, Sage, was a recent volunteer at a summer camp for epileptic children; during that same summer camp Mark was the volunteer coordinator and Angie was the director of that camp, and Jeramiah was an attendee of that camp.”

Angie’s other son, Alex Frank, sat next to her and her other son Caden as she spoke with FOX13 News. They talked about how much they will miss Mark and Sage.

“I loved him very much he was my best friend for a really long time,” said Alex Frank as he spoke about Mark Mathews.

Angie said their family was camping to celebrate a step in her fight against cancer. She was diagnosed last fall and had finished chemotherapy in May and then finished radiation treatment on August 1. Her birthday was August 3.

“I wish there was something I could have done to save my baby (Sage),” said Angie. “I'm feeling very guilty about it. I am feeling like I should have gotten something out of the cooler while I was driving to keep myself awake. I wish I would have known that he was tired. I wish we had not stayed that extra night and gone home the day before.”

Angie said a local organization they work with called Children and the Earth is collecting donations for her family to help pay for the funerals. Neither Mark nor Sage had life insurance.

To donate, visit www.childrenandtheearth.com or call: 801-860-0725