Ontario teacher and 4 teens killed in crash to be remembered at funerals this weekend

Funeral services will be held this weekend in several midwestern Ontario communities for the five victims of a multi-vehicle collision that sent shock waves of grief across the region.

Four teenage girls from Walkerton District Community School were travelling home with their teacher last Friday afternoon after a softball tournament east of London, Ont., when they were involved in a crash with a transport truck.

Rowan McLeod, Kaydance Ford, Danica Baker, Olivia Rourke and Mat Eckert were killed. Their deaths were acknowledged across Canada, including by Prime Minister Mark Carney, who wrote that it was an “unimaginable loss that no family, no classmate, no school should ever have to endure.”

Ontario Provincial Police said Thursday that they are continuing to investigate what happened on the rural road where a two-way stop intersects with a busier highway.

Memorial announcements posted this week offered a window into the lives of the young women who are being remembered for their love of sport, their many “best friends,” and the care they felt for their siblings and cousins.  

“Our world was forever changed on Friday, May 23, 2025, when our beloved Kaydance Lynne Ford passed away suddenly at just 16 years old,” wrote the Ford family, who said their daughter excelled in athletics and in shop classes at school.

Rowen’s favourite colour was pink, and her family asked people to wear it on Sunday at the Chesley arena for a memorial. That small town, north of Walkerton in Bruce County, will be the site of two funerals, with a gathering Saturday at the Chesley ball diamond to remember Kaydance.

Earlier on Saturday, a joint service for Olivia and Danica will be held at the Walkerton Community Centre. 

Olivia’s family remembers her as a light in their lives, “full of kindness, laughter, dance, song and love,” they wrote in a statement. “Her absence leaves a void that will never be filled and always remembered.”

Hundreds of people lit candles and marked a moment of silence at a vigil outside of the school in the days following the crash, with many people expressing the importance of being together to grieve.  

“It’s an incredibly deep, deep scar this has inflicted on our community. It’s going to take a long time to heal,” said Chris Peabody, the mayor of Brockton, which includes Walkerton.

While students at the school where the teens attended are receiving grief counselling, staff too mourned a colleague they said brought laughter to the staff room and “whose presence made a difference.”

Eckert, 33, was not only a teacher and a coach, his family said, but someone whose dedication to service was apparent in everything he did.   

“His math lessons were more than just numbers — they were moments of connection. He took the time to truly see his students and athletes, often using his lunch breaks to build relationships, offer encouragement, and remind others of their worth,” his family wrote. 

Known to his friends as “Ecky,” some hung orange NorthStar lacrosse team shirts, where he was a coach, on their front porch.

His funeral will be held on Sunday at an Owen Sound high school, where his family suggested we would have wanted people to wear “sweatpants tucked into socks and cozy footwear.”  

To mark the teenagers’ interest in sports, three families asked that donations be made to various local teams, including aerial gymnastics, broomball, minor hockey and baseball. The Ford family had also set up a bursary at the Walkerton school in Danica’s name.