3-year-old accident victim was 'little doll'
Canton girl died after removing seat belt
Melanie Brandert • mbrander@argusleader.com • March 20, 2009
Kennedy Alfson of Canton was a 3-year-old girl who wanted to do all the things the big kids did as the youngest of four children.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl liked to follow her three older siblings around, and the children were inseparable, one family friend said.
Alfson died Wednesday at the Canton-Inwood Hospital after the pickup she was in rolled just north of Canton.
Kennedy had unbuckled her seat belt to change the radio station, and as her mother, Stacey Alfson, 31, turned to rebuckle her, the pickup drifted to the right side of road, state Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Schade said. Alfson overcorrected, and the pickup rolled one-and-a-half times, throwing Kennedy and landing on her.
Her brother, Carrington, 9, and sister Emerson, 5, weren't injured. Her mother suffered minor injuries. Oldest sister, Annika, 11, wasn't in the pickup.
Several people expressed sympathy Thursday for Kennedy's mother, who was driving the pickup and trying to rebuckle Kennedy.
Neighbor Tracey Zylstra, who traded off with Kennedy's mother on taking the kids to school, recalled how the four Alfson children were inseparable.
"Kennedy was just a little doll," she said. "She was trailing along on her bike, hollering, 'Wait for me!' They'd always cut through my yard, and I would scold them. They would say, 'So-r-r-y-y!' "
Zylstra said she stopped at the Alfson home Thursday morning to bring supplies and offer support.
"Stacey was just a puddle," she said, noting that Alfson's parents and in-laws also were there for support.
Zylstra can empathize with the Alfsons because she lost her niece, Kellie Harrison, 19, in a traffic accident north of town in 2000. Harrison and her friend, Ashley Joslyn, weren't wearing seat belts and died.
Jim Harrison, who lives across the street from the Alfsons and is Kellie Harrison's father, said the family seemed somber Thursday.
"I just felt sick," he said. "Things like that, they happen so fast. There is no time to think."
Harrison said he could envision this situation happening to any parent.
"There's two things kids learn when they are young ... how to get out of the safety seat and how to say things they're not supposed to say," he said.
Susan Randall, executive director of South Dakota Voices for Children, said the accident is a tragedy.
"My heart goes out to (Stacey Alfson)," she said. "She was obviously trying to do the right thing."
Zylstra said she was at church Wednesday night when someone mentioned coming across an accident. Church members prayed for those involved.
"You hear sirens and you know where your children are, and you pray it's not someone you know," she said. "In a small town, you know everybody."
Attempts to reach Alfson family members Thursday were unsuccessful.
Services for Kennedy Alfson will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Canton United Methodist Church, said Andy McCann, funeral director at Anderson Funeral Home in Canton. Visitation will be 2 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m.
Reach reporter Melanie Brandert at 977-3926.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20090320/NEWS/903200306