DELMONT (KDKA) — Tears flowed as family, friends and community members gathered in Westmoreland County Tuesday to remember three teenagers who were killed two years ago in a car crash.

The lake at Twin Valley Cemetery in Delmont will become an annual gather place for three families linked by one tragedy.

Michael Simpson, Jordan Cobb and Carly Kudray, three Greensburg Salem High School students, were killed just yards from away on Church School Road in June of 2010.

“It made us realize that life’s too short and you never know what’s going to happen,” said Danielle Wallace, a friend of the victims. “I was devastated when this happened and it just makes me love life even more and made us all come closer together.”

Their names are inscribed in hearts on tee-shirts, and now also engraved on benches at the crash site.

“I have been planning this bench memorial for two years now and it’s really nice to see it come to completion,” said Mollie Cobb, Jordan’s mother. “I hope it’ll be a place where friends and family can sit, reflect on their lives and on their own lives because we never know when it’s our last day.”

The families released doves during a ceremony wrought with emotion but tempered with support from so many, including some of the first responders.

“It brought a tear to my eye standing here. It did,” Asst. Chief Steven Rosatti, of the Forbes Road Fire Department, added. “And like I said, I try not to get too emotionally involved because it’ll just, any emergency personnel will tell you that, it’ll drive you nuts. It can literally drive you crazy, but it’s nice that they do it.”

A time to heal, and now a place to reflect.

“A sign of peace, and we hope that they’re all peaceful in heaven,” said Cobb.

RELATED LINKS:
Woman Who Served Teens Beer Before Fatal Crash Sentenced (4/26/12)
Other Related Stories