The Easton community sadly mourns the tragic loss of three of its own who died in a fiery crash May 9 on the Merritt Parkway. The driver, Steven Rowland, 65, and two passengers, identified as Thomas Lucian Vitale, 80, and Olga Vitale, 81, were headed south in the southbound lane of Route 15 when their vehicle was struck head-on by a car heading north in the southbound lane around 1:43 a.m., Connecticut State Police said.
All three Eastonites were pronounced dead at the scene, State Police said. The wrong-way driver, whose vehicle was engulfed in flames, was not immediately identified, pending an autopsy. However, State Police said the driver was a man driving a 2016 Honda CRV registered in Wayland, Mass.
Fairfield University released a post on its Facebook page May 10 that stated: “It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of one of our students, Alexander Dennis ’25. Alex had just completed his junior year here on campus and was traveling home to Massachusetts for the summer when the car accident occurred.” The post did not connect Dennis’s death with the May 9 crash.
Easton residents have been posting messages of sadness and grief about the victims, and caring and sympathy for their families left behind. Rowland was driving Thomas and Olga Vitale, his uncle and aunt, home from Yale-New Haven Hospital at the time of the accident, according to his obituary. You can read the three obituaries: Steven P. Rowland and Thomas L. Vitale Sr. and Olga Martinez Vitale.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Abriola Parkview Funeral Home. Friends and family may greet the family on Thursday, May 16 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Road, Trumbull. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, May 17 at 10:30 a.m. at Notre Dame of Easton, 655 Morehouse Road, Easton. Interment will follow to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 1056 Daniels Farm Road, Trumbull.
Remembering Three Esteemed Eastonites
Jenny Chieda grew up on Everett Road, where her family and the Vitales were friends and neighbors. Chieda said her mother, who died last summer, would have been heartbroken to know of her friends’ sudden death.
Now a public school teacher, former Easton Board of Education member and mother of school-aged children, Chieda remembers Tom and Olga Vitale fondly. She describes them as “Godly, other-worldly, generous and humble. They were model human beings spiritually, one in a million.”
Chieda said she was in the same grade as the Vitales’ son, Chris. As a child, Chieda said the Vitales’ house reminded her of a wooden boat, which she likened to Noah’s Ark because the Vitales were “so close to God.” They sat in the same pew at Notre Dame of Easton Church for 40 years, she said.
“Priests come and go, but the Vitales’ were always there,” Chieda said. “Chris called for prayers for the driver of the other car,” she said. He is following the example his parents set, she said.
Another longtime friend, Lisa Natoli Sheehan, cited the Vitales’ “patience, joy, and kindness based on faith.” She also noted how they sat in the front row in the same pew on the right side at Notre Dame Church for decades. Tom was a Eucharistic minister, and she likened him to the Saint Francis de Sales quote, “Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.”
Sheehan and Tom Vitale chaperoned a service trip together to New Orleans in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Roughly 20 youths from Notre Dame Church Easton, including Sheehan’s son, went on the trip. Their project was to build a new bathroom for a woman whose name was Cinderella. They accompanied her “on a Fairy Tale shopping spree to Home Depot to pick out tile and bathroom fixtures,” Sheehan said.
“I was lucky to partner with Tom,” she said. “He was a guiding force and treated the teens and everyone with respect and was excited to lead us,” she said. She and all of the youths learned how to cut tile and rebuild the bathroom, under Tom’s guidance, Sheehan said.
First Selectman Dave Bindelglass reminisced about coaching soccer with Rowland when their sons were in eighth grade through high school.
“Steve was passionate about coaching and passionate about the kids,” Bindelglass said. “We won the state championship one year of the years that we coached together.”
Former 12-term selectman Robert Lessler recalled working with Rowland on the 1997 School Building Committee. “We also interacted when he came before the Board of Selectmen when I was on the board,” Lessler said. “He was always thoughtful, strong-willed, and passionate. We disagreed a lot, but he was always considerate and a good listener.
“Easton has suffered a big loss. My heart goes out to Andrea, with whom I also worked. May his memory be a blessing.”
State Senator Tony Hwang and state Rep. Anne Hughes expressed their sympathy over the loss of their constituents. “My deepest condolences go out to the families of those who lost their lives that morning in yet another devastating and tragic wrong-way driving incident,” said Hwang.
“I’m horrified and devastated again and this one hits close to home,” said Hughes, who lost her colleague Middletown state Rep. Quentin William, 39, last year to a wrong-way driver on Route 9 southbound in Cromwell.
The state Department of Transportation has identified 236 ramps as being high risk and a top priority to receive wrong-way detection systems equipped with flashing lights to alert drivers they are entering the wrong way and alerts State Police. The DOT plans to activate about 100 locations by the end of the year. The Route 15 ramp in Stratford where Thursday’s crash occurred is not on the priority list.
Hwang and Hughes vowed to do their part to enact legislation to prevent further wrong way tragedies.
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