YUBA CITY —
Since the 5th Grade, Tim Gowin was best friends with Lucas Blanco, the youngest of three brothers killed by a drunk driver last weekend.
“He was the one who would always go out and help everyone and anyone that he could. He had fun doing it,” Gowin said.
Gowin is the one who convinced his boss at Auto-Time Motors to hold a car wash for Blanco’s family.
“It’s his family. We’ve got to help them out,” said Gowin. “We’re just here to help the family, that’s all we want to do.”
Last Saturday, 21-year-old Carlos Blanco, 19-year-old Antonio Blanco and 15-year-old Lucas were on State Route 113 coming back from a friend’s birthday party when a pickup truck slammed into them.
The Blancos’ car flipped, and was soon engulfed in flames.
The driver of the truck, 38-year-old Michael Allan Jones, was arrested by the CHP for driving under the influence.
Since that time the boys’ mother, Sherri Beltran, has thought about them almost every second of every day.
“My life is in shambles right now. I didn’t know how I was going to do it on my own,” Beltran said.
The cost for their funerals has been overwhelming.
That is, until now.
“It’s just God blessing my family. It’s amazing that these people helped me, and they didn’t even know me,” said Beltran.
“The moment you met him, he would make you laugh so hard,” said Iris Mendoza, Carlos’ fiancée.
Mendoza says her daughter is too young to remember her father. But she’ll make sure their child knows who her father was.
“I will be talking to her about him every day that I live, and she’s going to know how happy he was and how happy he made us,” Mendoza said.
“Antonio’s wife is here, but I told her to stay off her feet because she is nine months pregnant. I didn’t want her washing any cars,” Beltran said.
While the number of people who came out to donate might impress some, Gowin and others say they knew the brothers touched everyone they met.
“They planted it in everyone,” Mendoza said.
“It’s amazing how many people my kids touched,” Beltran said.
“It’s really hard, for everyone,” Gowin said.