ELK RAPIDS -- John Ridgeway stopped by a makeshift memorial along Elk Lake Road with his mother Carol. There, he penned a message to his daughter Nichole on a small white cross.
"You will always be my little hippie chick, Love Dad," he wrote.
"We signed the cross and signed the pole and my son took some pictures of the scene," Carol Ridgeway said. "It was very emotional ... to see the spot where she took her last breath."
Nichole Ridgeway, 17, was driving north on Elk Lake Road about 8 a.m. Saturday when she lost control of her car on a curve and slid across the road into a power pole, authorities said.
The Elk Rapids High School senior was rushed to Munson Medical Center with passengers Andrew Bussa, 20, of Kewadin and Jonathan Hosner, 20, of Elk Rapids.
She died shortly after the crash. Bussa died at Munson Sunday. Hosner remained in fair condition at the hospital Monday.
A passing motorist spotted the wrecked vehicle around 8:15 a.m. and called authorities. The impact crushed the car and rescue workers had to pry the vehicle open, said Antrim County Sheriff Terry Johnson.
"It was a pretty traumatic scene," he said.
Elk Rapids High School Principal Steve Gallagher said an announcement about the deaths was made over the school's loudspeaker Monday morning.
"All three of them, the boys and Nichole, were the type of kids that anyone would be proud to have as their son or daughter," Gallagher said.
Bussa graduated from Elk Rapids in 2005 and Hosner was a 2006 graduate.
A message left with the Bussa family was not returned.
Gallagher said Ridgeway excelled in math and science courses and recently participated in school plays.
"She was the kind of kid that just made your day better because she was around you," he said.
Ridgeway lived with her mother and worked as a grocery bagger at Village Market in Elk Rapids. She was a bright, well-rounded teen who aspired to attend college for psychology, Carol Ridgeway said.
"She was very tender-hearted and compassionate young lady. She was very smart and was on the honor society. She was just my very special grand-daughter," she said.
"My memory of Nichole is she was always a big Beatles fan. She was always a happy kid," her father said.
Village Market manager Vickie Newhouse said the store delivered food to the families of the crash victims, donated gas cards for the Hosner family, and set up donation canisters at the registers to raise money to help with funeral expenses.
"This is a little town. We know everybody and everybody takes care of everybody," she said.
