Local Family Finding their Feet

ONE moment he was playing the number plate game with his little girl and the next minute he was gone.

Jennifer Grenenger lost her 38 year old husband Craig as they were driving home to Scone after visiting their eldest daughter in Maitland hospital who had fallen off a ladder at work and had concussion.

The accident occurred on Sunday, March 20 near Rixs Creek, just north of Singleton and Jennifer finds it hard to recollect how it happened because it all happened so quickly.

“Police asked me what happened and I said one minute he was doing the number plate game with Emily and he said ‘Craig Grenenger takes selfies’ and the next minute bang and we rolled,” said Ms Grenenger.

“I asked my daughter if she remembered what happened because she was in the front and she said ‘the lights came at us and bang and I shut my eyes after that’,” she said.

“Witnesses said at the time they think the 21 year old overtook, but I don’t know.

“I don’t even remember seeing his car.

“What happened was the car rolled twice and it actually rolled over a barbed wire fence and it was facing Newcastle.

“The police are still doing the investigation.

“He died from massive head injuries and I knew he wasn’t going to make it and when I was at the hospital they came out and said ‘I think you already know what we are going to tell you’ and I said ‘yeah I do’.

“But he was breathing at the accident, but he wasn’t conscious and they said they were hopeful, but he made it to Singleton hospital and that was it.

“It’s just shocking that it is so quick.

“When it happened I thought my little girl was in trouble, at first she was quiet, but then she started screaming and then she said ‘dad’s not moving’, so then I went to Craig.

“The amount of people that were helping us that night was unbelievable.

“I remember a lady took Emmie up to her car, because she was hysterical, so she took her away and sat her in a car to calm her down for me and I stayed with Craig and I just remember seeing a lot of people getting him out of the car and people ringing family for me.

“My sister was allowed to stay in the hospital with Emily, because we weren’t allowed to stay in the same ward because we had different medical needs and it was difficult because I didn’t want to be separated from her,” she said.

“So they were really good at John Hunter, they found a family room so that my sister and her family could sleep in there with her,” Jennifer Grenenger said.

Jennifer still bears the physical scares of the accident with broken ribs, bruising and cuts, but her focus is helping her five children deal with the loss of their hands on dad.

Craig and Jennifer were childhood sweethearts who met when they were 15 years old, they were originally from Sydney and moved to Scone four years ago as the ideal place to raise their family.

Jennifer had been a carer for their son with special needs, but a couple of years ago Craig traded places so that Jennifer could go back to her career working at Strathearn and she also held down an extra job at Woolworths.

Jennifer was fully insured, but Craig was not.

Stef McFayden a friend of Jennifer’s saw the stress she was under with a mortgage and raising five children on her own and set up a GoFundMe account for the family.

“Steph could see how much I was stressing and not being able to go to work and I can’t thank her enough for what she has done, it just helps take away some of the worry right now,” said Jennifer.

“Once I can get back to work, I’ll throw myself into that, but I am worried about the kids, they always had someone there with them and especially with my son who needs someone here,” she said.

“We had a house in Omadale that we were trying to sell, because we were struggling and the day after he died they rang up and said the house was sold, he really wanted to hear those words that it was sold and it was one less stress.

“It’s unbelievable the support that I’ve had from people, Woolworths brought platters at the funeral and sent flowers, Strathearn let us have the funeral in their TLC room and Soignee they did my hair which was lovely, just little things like that made the day go better,” she said.

“The principals from St Joseph’s and Scone Public School and some students came to the funeral which was really lovely,” she said.

“It is lovely to know we have such a supportive community around us,” said Jennifer Grenenger.

Hayley, her eldest daughter is at University but is home helping with her younger brothers and sisters, while another daughter is working at McDonald’s and Jennifer wants to get back to work as soon as possible.

If you can help the local family get back on their feet you can contribute to the GoFundMe account or make a deposit at the ANZ bank: 012720 Account: 523564323 – Jennifer Grenenger.