HOULTON, Maine — Nicole Hutchinson can still vividly recall the night 21 years ago that her life was forever changed.
A 1988 graduate of Houlton High School, Hutchinson, who is now 47, was living in Arizona and at work the night she learned her little sister, Darcie, had been killed by a drunk driver.
“It was Friday the 13th, and I was working the evening shift,” she recalled. “I answered a call that changed my world and that of my family forever. My initial reaction was complete shock. I did not want to believe it, but I also wanted answers and no one could give me any answers as to what, who, how did this all happen?”
As the big sister, Hutchinson said she felt compelled to do something.
“The hardest thing I ever had to do, besides burying my little sister, was to tell my [younger] brother Jasen what had happened,” she said. “My family has gone through a lot. I choose to put all my anger and pain into honoring Darcie’s memory by volunteering for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).”
Friends and family of the Houlton High School alum will gather Saturday in Houlton to celebrate the second annual Maine Walk Like MADD event. Saturday’s gathering is the only official MADD Walk set in Maine and begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Gentle Memorial Building at 128 Main St. with opening remarks by Nicole Hutchinson and national MADD President Colleen Sheehey-Church. The walk begins at 9 a.m.
“This is a true testament to our great hometown,” Hutchinson said of Sheehey-Church’s return to Houlton. “There are so many walks that she can attend and she chose to come back to Maine.”
Last year, a group of more than 120 walkers turned out for the first official Walk Like MADD event in the Shiretown. The walk raised more than $13,000 for the non-profit Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, well above the initial goal of $8,000. In comparison, the first unofficial walk held in Houlton back in 2010 raised $400.
From 2010-2015, an unofficial memorial walk was held each spring to celebrate Darcie Hutchinson thanks to the vigorous efforts of a classmate, Heather Campbell.
All of the funds raised from the walk will remain in Maine, with the money to be used to educate youths and parents about the consequences of drinking and driving, and to provide volunteer training to support the MADD mission. Some of the money also will go toward working with state and local legislators to adopt tougher laws, including requiring ignition interlocks for all OUI offenders, and to close loopholes in many existing laws.
Darcie Hutchinson was just 21 years old and living in Connecticut when she was killed by a drunk driver. She graduated from HHS in 1993 and Northern Maine Technical College in 1995. According to her sister, Darcie participated in sports and band in high school.
“She had a great smile, infectious giggle and a head of curly brown hair,” Hutchinson recalled. “She was a true friend and extremely loyal. She loved country music much to my dismay and her brother took her to her first Garth Brooks concert. She was my ‘mini me’ and took over my closet when I went away to college.”
The man responsible for her death, a habitual drunk driver who was a three-time offender, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five years suspended.
According to the MADD website, on average, two in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime; every 120 seconds, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash; and every day in America, another 28 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes.
Nicole Hutchinson said she plans to meet with local law enforcement officials and educators to plan training sessions for the fall to bring the MADD program to area schools.
“Last year’s walk was amazing,” Hutchinson said. “This year we have more people that have been impacted by drinking and driving in attendance. We have had more people reach out about how to be a volunteer and asking how they can help raise awareness. We are making some changes, but nothing major. I look forward to seeing our community come together for such a great cause. It’s what we do.”
Families from Phoenix, Arizona, Farmington and Portland will be joining this year’s walk. In addition to Darcie, the group also will be honoring the memories of others who have been impacted by drunk driving.
The group will walk in memory of Ella Mae Grant, Taylor Gaboury, Erin Dufour, Cailin Currivan, and Raina Jensen. Erin’s mother, Kathryn Dufour and her family will be attending. Taylor Gaboury’s mother, Tena Trask and her family will be attending. Raina Jensen’s mother, Jan Jensen will be attending. Ella Mae Grant’s mother, Mary Jane Cleary and her family will be attending.
Nicole Hutchinson serves on the North Carolina Board for MADD and is a victim impact panel speaker, a victim advocate and chair and co-chair of Walk Like MADD events in North Carolina and Maine.
And while serving on these boards helps ease the loss of her sister, the pain is something that has never gone away.
“I do not think it gets any easier, it is just different,” she said. “There is emptiness in my heart that will never be filled no matter what I do. This year is my year of forgiveness. I have yet to be able to forgive the man who killed my little sister. I am working through so many emotions from the past 21 years in order to get to the place where I will be able to forgive him.”
Hutchinson added that she hopes the organization’s efforts “continue to raise awareness around this 100 percent preventable crime. I hope that no one else will have to experience what my family has had to go through from losing Darcie to a three-time repeat offender of drinking and driving. I hope that I can impact one person to make the right decision to not drink and drive. I also realize that hope is not a strategy. We need to educate our youth, parents, prosecutors and law enforcement about the effects that drinking and driving has on all involved. You never think that it will happen to you. And most of all, I hope that I make Darcie proud.”
For more information, or to sign up for the walk, visit online: www.walklikemadd.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=751
