Birth brings new life to tragic anniversary
By JULIE SHEHANE EDITOR

Five crosses stand next to the highway near the intersection of Hooks Cemetery Loop Road and Highway 69 for five Lumberton boys that were killed on May 2, 1998. The automobile they were in was involved in a crash with an 18-wheeler. HCN/Dave Ryan

LUMBERTON - The Salim family used to consider May 2 to be one of profound grief over the 16-year-old who died in a horrific car crash alongside four friends.

Now, family members have something to celebrate May 2.

"I only got to have my son until he was a teenager, but now I have a grandson who was born on the same date my son died," Beverly Salim of Lumberton said of Daniel, killed 10 years ago May 2. " ... Now we celebrate a birthday on May 2 instead of the pain of a death."

Daniel and four friends were killed May 2, 1998, in a U.S. 69 car crash that rocked the close-knit bedroom community of Lumberton and continues to reverberate to this day.

Daniel never got to see the two nephews born after his death.

Daniel's middle name was Jacob, which is now his 6-year- old nephew's first name.

Another nephew, Gavin, turns 3 today on the 10th anniversary of the crash.

"They know who their uncle was. We talk about him all the time," Beverly Salim said. "I don't care how many days or years go by, none of those boys will ever be forgotten."

On May 2, 1998, Daniel was out with friends, Matt Richard and Michael Richey, both 15, and 18-year-olds Trey Landry and Clint Bertrand, who was driving.

The five were killed when the southbound 1991 Mercury they were riding in on U.S. 69 just north of Lumberton collided with an 18- wheeler, according to Enterprise archives. It was just before midnight, and they were returning from a friend's house.

The Texas Department of Public Safety originally ruled that the students had pulled out into the path of the 18- wheeler, according to a Jan. 4, 2001, Enterprise story.

However, subsequent studies showed that the 18- wheeler crossed the center stripe and struck the Mercury, according to archives.

The trucking company, Groendyke Transport Inc., later agreed to pay five families an undisclosed amount, according to the 2001 Enterprise story.

Chip Ferguson, lead counsel for the families, said in the story that the amount Groendyke paid was "the largest sum ever recovered, by verdict or settlement, in the history of Hardin County."

Enterprise attempts to reach the loved ones of the four other boys killed in the wreck were unsuccessful.

However, Beverly Salim said many of the members of the five families remain in touch.

"We went through this together," Salim said. "We lost our children. It wasn't an easy road."

Hardin County Sheriff Ed Cain noted that the accident occurred just a few months after he took office.

"It was a tragic accident," Cain recalled. "Five young lives were taken."

Today, a tree planted in memory of the boys continues to grow in front of Lumberton High School. Fellow students planted it 10 years ago.

Also, the Lumberton 5 scholarship continues to be awarded annually to five seniors at the school - each receiving $500 from funds collected in the year after the accident.

Beverly Salim said she still gets calls and visits from Daniel's classmates, who now have children of their own.

"It's been 10 years. I knew them as teenagers, and now I see them as adults and with children," Salim said of the classmates. "Daniel didn't get to graduate from high school or go to college. I don't know what his life would be like if he were alive today at 26."

Beverly said she honors each of the boys by moving forward.

"Life is so precious," she said. "I cherish every minute I had with my son, but you have to move forward and honor each of the boys by having a happy life."