A lasting memory: Family suggests a unique way to honor young Hilton Head crash victim
The family of Charli Bobinchuck, the Hilton Head Island 11-year-old who was struck and killed by a car last week as she was crossing US 278 with her dog, has asked that residents do something subtle, but powerful, to remember her.
As they prepared to honor Charli's memory at a 6 p.m. memorial service today at Chaplin Communtiy Park, they've asked that those driving to the beachside service to put a piece of blue tape inside their cars with the name "Charli" on it, according to a social media post.
The tape is not just for a drive to the memorial. Her family hopes its effect will last longer.
"This is a special request to all who drive here, from Charli’s grandmother, [whose] friend came up with the idea," the post said. It's a way of reminding people (to go with care) "while driving on our very congested, dark, Lowcountry roads."
Charli's parents, Daisy and Bryan Bobinchuck, are co-owners of Catch 22 Seafood and Steaks. Charli attended Hilton Head Elementary School. She was struck about 11 p.m. June 21 near the U.S. 278 intersection of William Hilton Parkway and Yacht Cove Drive as she walked with the dog and an adult.
Her family's friends and neighbors remembered her as an animal lover and "a true island girl."
Charli's grandmother, Robin Mehaffey of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said one of her friends put down blue tape with "Charli" written on it in her car and shared a picture of it with her.
The friend said she would "just leave this here" so that she would remember the tragic accident and always drive safely.
"People keep asking me, 'What can we do for you?'" Mehaffey said Wednesday morning. "And there's nothing you can do ... except maybe that."
Daisy extended loving, virtual arms to the driver of the eastbound Toyota that killed her daughter on Monday, The Island Packet reported. She wrote that she needed "him to be OK" and could "only imagine" what he is feeling.
"This is just a horrific tragedy for us all but here we are.... in this together," she wrote.
No charges have been filed against the driver of the Toyota, who underwent a battery of tests just after the crash.
Yacht Cove resident Linda Prosser had said Charli was like a "big sister" to kids in the neighborhood.
And while some adults will honor Charli with the tape, Hilton Head kids have decorated bicycles, Prosser said Wednesday morning.
The bikes, as well as a shrine to Charli, are all sitting in a common area of the neighborhood. Those who decorated the bikes plan to ride them to the memorial service together, Prosser said.
"We will continue to lift one another up because it's what we do," Daisy wrote Tuesday in another social media post — this one thanking Yacht Cove residents for supporting her family and each other.
The Bobinchucks' out-of-town family flew to Hilton Head, Mehaffey said, but for those coming in cars, the tape gesture is a sweet one that she appreciates.
"It is something people can do that has meaning," she said, "and it may ... one day save somebody."
This story was originally published June 27, 2018 at 11:32 AM.