King Philip SADD Walk of Tears About Remembering and Reminding

The SADD Walk of Tears in Wrentham and Franklin has been poignantly reminding nearby residents of the dangers of drunk driving for years.

King Philip High School is hosting the annual SADD Walk of Tears, Sunday, May 19, at 10:30 a.m. The event is organized by both SADD chapters in King Philip and Franklin.

The event is to memorialize the lives of King Philip graduate Maura Howard and Franklin High graduate Amy Callaghan, who were both victims of drunk driving.

Maura was the oldest of his children and was a 1993 grad of KP.

“She had just finished her freshman year at Springfield College,” Tom Howard, Maura's father, said. “She was murdered July 31, 1994 by a drunk driver.”

Howard said his daughter and two friends were coming home from a summer party in the afternoon in Maine. He said at that time there were many calls to police regarding the reckless actions of a particular driver on Route 495.

“There were over 200 phone calls on this one guy from New Hampshire all the way down,” he said. “The state police couldn’t do anything, because as you can imagine, 495 on July 31 with everybody coming from or going to the Cape, it was packed.”

Despite the calls of the erratic driver, Howard said the state police were unable to locate the intoxicated person.

“He hit their car from the back,” he said. “Maura’s two friends were ejected from the car, and they’re still alive today,”

In 1995, a drunk driver also killed Franklin High graduate Amy Callaghan. Howard said the two SADD chapters of KP and Franklin got together and formed the "Walk of Tears," and the location of the walk rotates between King Philip and Franklin every year.

“Hopefully, some of these young people will get the message, I know a lot of parents have,” he said.

Howard said the walk is not only in memory of his daughter, but also to remind people drinking and driving can have serious consequences.

“People continue to make stupid, dumb and deadly decisions by getting behind the wheel of a car,” he said.

Howard said the driver of that vehicle served the maximum sentence of 12 years in prison, but it was little comfort to his family.

“He didn’t serve our maximum,” he said. “Which we serve everyday, and Maura’s brothers and sisters live everyday.”

Howard said excluding a few of his children, who are in California, the family will show their support at the walk. He said if it wasn’t for the solidarity the entire family showed during their ordeal, they might have self destructed because of that tragedy.