Port Angeles: Young woman will face future without her best friends — her parents, who were killed in car crash

Published 12:01 am Sunday, February 1, 2004

PORT ANGELES — It might have been organza, satin or possibly even a beaded silk blend.

Michelle Reed hadn’t yet chosen the fabric for her wedding gown, but two things she knew were certain:

Her mother, Leah Reed, would be making it — and it would be flawless, just as Leah was.

“I think she hated hearing this, because she knew it was true. But my mom was just perfect,” said the 20-year-old Port Angeles woman, who had been planning a wedding for next year with her fiance, Kyle Perry.

But Michelle got a staggering dose of life’s imperfections Thursday night.

A State Patrol trooper knocked on her door to tell her that her parents, Leah and John Reed, had been killed that afternoon in a car crash on U.S. Highway 101 near the Clallam-Jefferson line east of Blyn.

The elder Reeds had been vacationing in Oregon and were due back that night.

A knock at the door led Michelle to believe they were making a creative announcement of their return.

“I was expecting it to be them,” Michelle said.

“Then I saw the officer. My knees were shaking, and I was hoping it wasn’t what I thought it was.”

It was, in fact, her worst nightmare come true.

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The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News.