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Girl dies but helps others live better Annie Yowman Heart, lungs, eyes, skin are donated BY MARK FREEMAN Jerry Yowman fights the pain of losing his teenage daughter this holiday by imagining the Christmas fortunes resulting from his family's tragedy. Gone is Faith Anne Yowman, a 17-year-old aspiring model and monster truck fan who died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a two-car crash while on a trip with friends to play in fresh mountain snow Sunday near Union Creek. But the girl, whom her father said was known for her giving nature, left many special and personal presents in her wake. Her strong heart, sturdy lungs, young eyes and healthy skin were all donated posthumously to help unknown blind, burned and infirm victims elsewhere have happy holidays with their families. "Out of our sadness," Jerry Yowman said, "I know there's a lot of people who are going to have a wonderful Christmas this year." Family and friends held a memorial service Saturday in Medford for Yowman, who was known as "Annie." Her burial was delayed a day so the last team of surgeons could take the skin that completed the girl's organ donation. She died Tuesday at Providence Medford Medical Center from severe head injuries suffered in a wreck on Highway 230 in eastern Douglas County. Annie had joined her boyfriend and stepbrother on a trip into the Cascades to play in the virgin snows that fell over Thanksgiving weekend. After briefly stopping at the Snow Park near Union Creek along Highway 62, the trio headed north across the packed snows on Highway 230 and into Douglas County toward Diamond Lake. "They were probably just going to get out, throw snowballs and make a snowman," Jerry Yowman said. Annie's boyfriend, Clark Freedom, 19, of Central Point, was driving the Honda hatchback when it slid on the northbound lane's ice near milepost 14, crossed the center line and into the southbound traffic, said Sgt. Brian Sanders of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. The Honda struck a 1984 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Esther Stark, 48, of Grants Pass, Sanders said. Freedom later told police he was driving about 35 mph, Sanders said. The impact launched Yowman, who was probably not wearing a safety belt, out of the car, police said. Freedom and Chris Newby, Yowman's 16-year-old stepbrother, suffered various broken bones and cuts in the wreck, according to police and family reports. Reached Saturday, Stark said she suffered a fractured jaw, a smashed lip and whiplash. Stark declined to discuss specifics of the accident, other than to say that she was driving the Blazer, with its four-wheel-drive engaged, about 30 mph over the packed snow and ice. The Honda, she said, did not have chains on the tires. That day, Jerry Yowman -- a tow-truck operator in Medford -- was on duty and monitored accident details over his police scanner, thinking he might be dispatched to the scene for a tow, he said. He recalled thinking, "That's about the worst place you can have an accident in the state of Oregon," because the remote area is more than an hour away from hospitals in Medford, Roseburg, Klamath Falls, and Bend. "It's no-man's-land out there," he said. An hour later, as the victims were rushed to Medford, he learned one was his daughter. All four victims were taken to Providence, where Jerry Yowman watched medics wheel his daughter into the hospital without recognizing her, he said. All but Yowman were treated for their injuries and later released. Annie Yowman was on life support until Tuesday, when she died. But the young girl who loved animals, writing poetry and being with family and friends still had work to do, her father said. Over the next two days, surgical teams removed the girl's heart, lungs, liver, eyes and 35 skin grafts -- all of which will go toward making this Christmas better for recipients of donor programs, her father said. The accident remains under investigation. On advice from her insurance company, Stark has not spoken yet with the Yowmans, she said. But she plans to contact them later. "Physically, I'm healing pretty well," Stark said Saturday. "I'm very upset about the girl. "I've been able to hold together pretty good," Stark said. "So far, she's only a name." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA