Friends and family of Joseph and Kate Castellano set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses after Joseph and Kate Castellano, graduates of Mount St. Mary University in Emmitsburg, Md., were involved in a car accident. Joseph died at the scene, while Kate is in critical condition. SCREENGRAB | COURTESY
Two parishioners of St. John the Beloved Church in McLean
were in a multi-vehicle car crash the morning of Saturday, Aug. 24. Joseph
Castellano, 28, died at the scene. His wife, Kate, also 28, was flown to a
trauma center in Washington and is still in critical condition. Both graduated
from Mount St. Mary University in Emmitsburg, Md.
“Joe and Kate touched the lives of many of us during our
tenure at Mount St. Mary’s,” said friend and classmate Megan Whelan, who set up
a GoFundMe account on behalf of Joseph’s father, Tony Castellano. “They were
kind to everyone, loved greatly, and did so much for everyone. They were good
Catholics and their faith and love for one another and to God could be felt by
everyone around them.”
According to the Virginia State Police, a series of chain
reaction crashes began at 10:58 a.m. when a driver of a BMW sedan hit a vehicle
in front of him, and then hit a tractor-trailer carrying water bottles. The
tractor-trailer driver then hit several vehicles, including the Castellano’s
RAV4, which went over the Jersey wall and caught on fire. Several other people
were injured.
Both the driver of
the BMW and the tractor trailer were charged with reckless driving.