HAMBURG, N.Y. — The intersection of Scranton Road and South Park Avenue in Hamburg will never be the same for Alyssa Gegenfurtner.
It’s the place where she lost the closest thing she’s had to a sister.
Twenty-six-year-old Casey Nolder of Blasdell was on her way home from work at the final day of the Erie County Fair on Sunday when authorities say she was struck by a vehicle while on her electric scooter.
She was on her way to Gegenfurtner’s home to pick up her car, and her friend was tracking her location the whole way there.
“I noticed that she had been in the same spot for a little bit, so I was a little confused,” she said.
Gegenfurtner saw a post on Facebook about a crash that took place at the exact location that Nolder was located.
“I called ECMC,” she said. “We confirmed all of her tattoos from the elephant behind her ear to the rabbit on her foot and her calf, and they said unfortunately it is it is her.”
Mitch McGovern was Casey’s boyfriend. He was waiting for her to come home that night.
“I was in shock,” he said. “I kind of fell to the ground and just didn't want to believe it. She was the love of my life, and I planned on marrying her, and it’s just tough to see all those dreams and plans of future with her just gone,” McGovern said.
Nolder’s two loved ones say at this point all they want are answers from authorities, as no charges have been filed with the investigation still ongoing.
But rather than focusing on the way she went, together they are trying to add a little bit of Casey’s light to the intersection that will forever be changed but adding sunflowers — her favorite flower — around the street sign in her honor.
“She was joy. She was happiness. She was spontaneous. She was funny,” McGovern said. “She was definitely a sunflower. She was many people’s sunflowers.”
The family will hold a Celebration of Life on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at John J. Kaczor Funeral Home in Blasdell.