“Hey Siri, call dad,” Lauren White said standing near a fatal-car accident that took the life of DeeAnn Massey in the early hours of Sunday, Oct. 25, just over 4.5 miles from DeeAnn’s home.
Even though she lost a daughter, Carrie Massey gives all the credit to God for the events following the 2 a.m. accident and potentially saving White’s life in return. Carrie also believes everything involved happened for a reason.
DeeAnn Massey was on her way home when she fell asleep at the wheel, ran off the road and into a Bois-D’arc tree.
White told Carrie she nearly didn’t stop at the accident until after hearing someone say “stop.”
“The lights were off and it looked as if it had been there all day,” Carrie said.
After she was out of the car and checked on DeeAnn, White immediately called 9-1-1, then proceeded to call the family by using DeeAnn’s cellphone, saying, “Hey Siri, call dad.” Carrie said White had told her they weren’t even supposed to be in Paris or near the area, “especially that time of night.”
After reactivating Life 360 on DeeAnn’s phone, an app used between families to ensure safety, Carrie said the last message DeeAnn sent was, “I’m tired.”
“The officer said if she had been on her phone, there would’ve been tire marks from trying to stop,” Carrie said. “To think it had been alcohol in her system was hard to handle. The officer told us he didn’t think that’s what it was.”
Carrie said White talked with the Massey family about the incident and, “she was so strong.”
“I had to ask her, ‘how can you stand there, look her dad in the eye without crying. You are one strong woman,’” Carrie said. “She said, ‘it had to be that energy I felt from your daughter’s car. Ever since we got there with her, there’s been this energy about that’s unreal.’”
Leading up to the funeral
DeeAnn had two children – 13 years old and 20 years old.
“Telling them they lost their mom was tough,” Carrie said. “But I knew we had to do whatever it took, we had to have a funeral for the babies. She had no life insurance or anything.”
Rickey, Carrie’s husband and DeeAnn’s dad, said he didn’t know what the family was going to do to afford a funeral.
“We had church here in the house,” Massey said, “and I told everyone if just one person gets saved through all of this, it’ll be worth it.
“We had two people get saved.”
Carrie said DeeAnn’s childhood best friend, who lived in Florida, was not going to be able to make it to the funeral due to financial concerns.
“I told my family, “y’all, let’s give her this $200 to get her here,’” Carrie said. “It was our last $200. But someone from her job gave her a first-class round trip ticket to get to Paris.”
Carrie said shortly after she talked with DeeAnn’s friend, a lady walked into the house and handed her a check.
“I glanced at it and said, ‘God gave us back that $200.’ Someone told me, ‘You need to look at that again,’” Carrie said. “It was $2,000. God gave me back 10 times.”
The Massey family went back to the funeral home to check on the funeral’s balance. She said she told a few people what was owed – about $1,060.
“Within minutes, we were told, ‘the funeral’s paid in full,’” Carrie said. “We didn’t have to pay a penny out of our pocket for the funeral. God provided.”
Rebekah and White sharing health symptoms
The two talked and Rebekah – Carrie’s other daughter – having open-heart surgery and the symptoms leading to the surgery was brought up.
“We told her about Rebekah having open-heart surgery, and still facing a pacemaker, COVID, Rickey with his two surgeries in the same month, and now this,” Carrie said. “I’m over 2020. I’m done. I can’t take anymore.”
White asked Carrie why Rebekah had heart surgery and began to explain the symptoms she had been facing. She said Rebekah had been passing out a lot and suffered from high heart rates.
“She sat there for a minute, stared at me,” Carrie said. “She said, ‘I’m amazed. You’re telling me everything that’s happening to me.’ I said, ‘but God.’”
Carrie said if White had never stopped, she would have never found out about what could be lifesaving.
Rebekah’s college assignment
Rebekah is going to school to become a Christian student counselor, and when White heard, “she froze.”
“She said that she was talking about going to school,” Carrie said, “and that she was wanting to go for that exact thing. It was as if looking at a mirrored image of Rebekah.”
Rebekah also had a college assignment due the day after DeeAnn’s accident about losing someone in a car accident, how it affects them and their family. The assignment also asked to write about how a counselor would counsel a child to help them through the incident. Rebekah used her own life experience as an example.
“Getting over grieving someone that you loved, and loss is never an easy thing. You will never fully be over it.” Rebekah said in the essay. “ … the important thing to remember is that you’re never alone during the process. Staying around family and be there for them as they are there for you. Everyone in a family needs each other during the difficult times. … Remember that your loved ones care so much about you … “
The family thanks everyone, and especially God
“God’s good,” Carrie said. “We could have never gotten through this without God. It’s amazing how a community will come together in a tragedy like this.”
Rickey said he didn’t realize how many lives DeeAnn has affected.
“They called her Mamma Dee,” he said. “Even when I worked at Skate Land, when she was growing up, I didn’t realize how she kept touching hearts and being so good to everybody else. She went out of her way and made them just like family – that’s who she was. I don’t know how we’ve gotten through it, but I do know that ever since it’s been God’s word.”
Carrie wanted to thank everyone for the calls, prayers, food and the simple visits, “during the loss of our precious DeeAnn.”
“Also, thanks to everyone who worked at, donated and helped make this past weekend’s benefit a success,” she said.