DATE: Thursday, August 14, 1997             TAG: 9708140445

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   47 lines

2 FAMILIES GRIEVE FOR VICTIMS WHO DIED ON WAY TO DAY OF FUN SEVERAL VEHICLES WERE TRAVELING TO KINGS DOMINION FOR AN OUTING.

Even in grief, there was good news this week, Donald H. Duncan said after the funeral of his 16-year-old daughter, Tracey, on Tuesday.

His only daughter, her good pal and schoolmate Shannon M. Stanley, and Shannon's mother, Pattie A. Coffey, were killed in a head-on collision Saturday morning as they headed to a day of fun at Paramount's Kings Dominion.

But Duncan said he was uplifted to learn at his daughter's funeral that another Suffolk girl with the group, Melinda Parsons, 15, had been moved Tuesday from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital's intensive care unit. A hospital spokeswoman said Melinda was in stable condition Wednesday.

Coffey's family, while preparing for their double funeral Wednesday, had reached out to the Duncans, he said. Tracey would have been a senior this fall at Nansemond River High School.

About four months ago, the Duncans had moved from Suffolk to Smithfield. They planned, however, for Tracey to graduate from Nansemond River, as her older brother had done.

Their house was always full of other teen-agers, Duncan said. Many of them attended Tracey's funeral.

``It touched a lot of people,'' he said.

The crash had left Tim Coffey in shock, family members said.

He was driving another vehicle in front of his wife's car and narrowly avoided the collision, said Duncan and a motorist who witnessed the accident.

State police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said the family members were in a caravan on their way to the theme park.

No charges had been filed in the two-car collision by Wednesday. The accident happened about 8:41 a.m. Saturday, just east of Waverly in Sussex County. Van Dame said police had not determined the cause of the crash.

A pickup truck driven by Jason Wall, 16, of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., swerved from the right, eastbound lane into oncoming traffic, striking Coffey's Dodge Stratus and crushing the fronts of both vehicles. Rescuers had to cut off the tops of the vehicles to reach the victims.

Wall was also in stable condition in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Adam Donski, 17, of Aydlett, N.C., was treated at Obici Hospital and released Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Donski was a passenger in Wall's truck.

Duncan said his family's faith would help them through their grief.

``The Lord will get us through it,'' he said.

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