Updated: 11/19/2009 8:56 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm & Maggie Newland

Friends Remember Austin Bus Crash Victims

Neighbors who knew and loved the two women killed in a tour bus crash in Austin Wednesday talked about the loss of their friends.

Pamela S. Holmquist, 56, of Kasson, and 52-year-old Rhonda R. Hill of Plainview died when the bus, which was returning from a day trip to a casino in Iowa, veered off Interstate 90 and rolled onto its side. Twenty other people were hurt.

Ted Bulaga was friends with Holmquist. He said she always had a smile on her face and nothing made her happier than helping someone else.

Bulaga said, "She'd help everybody... get rid of their garbage for them, plow their snow for them, mow their yard. She was physically handicapped and she still did these things."

Holmquist was partially paralyzed after an aneurism. Friends said the only thing she didn't do was drive, which is why she and her mother took the bus.

Her mother was also hurt in the crash, but doctors say she should recover from her injuries.

In Plainview, Hill's home, decorated for the holidays, sits empty. It's a place where Hill and her friend Carol Bredeson often shared a cup of coffee and a conversation.

"She just enjoyed people visiting," said Bredeson.

The two women spoke just before Hill's trip to the casino.

Bredeson said, "She told me she said "girl I'm going to the casino but I've got to get my Christmas tree up before I go."

"I really will miss her and she will always be in my heart," said Bredeson.

According to the Mayo Clinic, two of the surviving bus passengers are in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. Three others remain in area hospitals in fair condition. Thirteen were treated and released. One passenger was not injured.

The driver, Edwin Erickson, 52, of Elgin, is also at St. Mary's. The hospital is not releasing information on his condition at his request.

The owner of the company that operated the bus said Erickson suffered a ruptured aneurysm in his chest and lost consciousness before the crash.