By Lauren Felechner
Daily Titan Staff Writer

On April 9 just after midnight, Carrie Stewart-Dixon lost her daughter and only child, Courtney Stewart, in a drunk driving-related car crash.

Carrie Stewart-Dixon with her late daughter Courtney. Photo courtesy of Carrie Stewart-Dixon

Seven months after the crash, Stewart-Dixon is just now returning to her workplace and getting back into her normal daily routine.

“I feel like I am getting a little stronger now, but it’s still devastating every day,” Stewart-Dixon said.

Stewart-Dixon explained that Courtney went to an Angels baseball game that night to watch her friend and Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart play. She didn’t plan on going out with him after the game because she had class the next morning. However, she ended up making the decision to go.

Stewart-Dixon and Stewart would talk at least two times a day every day. “I would talk to her every Tuesday and Thursday mornings before her class, but I didn’t get to talk to her that morning,” Stewart-Dixon said.

Stewart-Dixon said her friend had contacted her around 8 a.m. on April 9 after seeing Courtney’s car wreck on the news. Stewart-Dixon’s friend heard about Adenhart’s death and knew that Courtney was supposed to be with him. After hearing this, she tried calling and texting Courtney for about two hours until 10:25 a.m. when she found out her daughter was dead.

The coroner’s office did not contact her until 10 hours after the car crash with the official statement that Courtney had passed away.

“I’ll never be a grandma, and I’ll never have someone call me ‘Mom’ again,” Stewart-Dixon said.

Courtney held special relationships with those close to her, according to Stewart-Dixon. Courtney and her step-dad would bond over quad and dirt-bike riding. They would also go to the supercross events together at Angels stadium.

Not only was Courtney a fan of fast bikes but also country music, which was something her roommate and her bonded over.

“Whenever I hear country music, I think of Courtney,” Jerica Stroing said.

Stroing, 22, a graduate from CSUF, shared a room with Courtney, after meeting each other through their sorority Alpha Chi Omega.

Much like Courtney’s mom, Stroing first heard of the car crash from her other roommate, who found it online.

“It’s been really difficult. I still think of her every day, but I like thinking about her,” Stroing said.

Stroing wears Courtney’s bracelet every day and has pictures of her hanging up on her bedroom walls. She said she misses Courtney’s infectious laugh and tht going back to their apartment was extremely difficult to do after her roommate’s passing.

“I moved back home, and I am really not looking forward to moving out again,” Stroing said.

Hannah Gaines, 20, a public relations major and Courtney’s best friend, was informed of the accident by Courtney’s roommate because she never came home the night before, and they knew something was wrong.

“Me and Courtney had our 10 a.m. class together, and if I had not talked to her roommate beforehand, I would have known something was wrong if Courtney didn’t come to class because she never missed class,” Gaines said.

Knowing Courtney for about a year and a half, Gaines explained the difficulty of coming back to school without Courtney and doing things by herself that the two girls would normally do together, such as their sorority and registering for classes.

Another difficulty that Gaines has had to endure was the passing conversation of strangers that talk about the car crash, not knowing that Gaines knew Courtney. Stewart-Dixon has experienced somewhat the same feeling, but she finds that people are scared to talk to her now.

“It’s almost like I have the plague,” Stewart-Dixon said.

Stroing and Stewart-Dixon go on lunch dates and spend time together, Stroing said.

“I like spending time with her because it’s a part of Courtney,” Stroing said.

“She was just happy,” Gaines said. “You don’t meet a lot of people that are happy and content, and she just was. She was one of those people that just got the most out of life.”