LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – May 14, 1988 - Karolyn Nunnallee's 10-year-old daughter Patty on the church bus on its way back to Radcliff, Kentucky from a trip to Kings Island.
Patty, along with 26 others, consumed by fire and smoke. The bus was hit by a drunk driver. The crash would become and still remain the deadliest drunk driving crash in US history.
"I thought, what is safer than a bus? Little did I know they were the most unsafe mode of transportation on our roadways," Nunnallee told WHAS11.
Patty's death lead Karolyn to first become a volunteer with Mothers Against Drunk Driving after Patty told her before her death she wanted to become a lawyer so she could make a difference. Karolyn started two MADD chapters in New Mexico and Florida, then served on the board and became president of the organization in 1998.
"Two weeks after her death, those words just kept ringing, 'Mom I want to make a difference' and she was no longer able to make a difference. I thought what can I do to make a difference?" Nunnallee said.
The bus crash would change DUI laws across the country, but Karolyn says in the 30 years since her daughter's death, more than 300,000 people have died in the US in drunk driving incidents, in what she calls a completely preventable crime.
"Sadly, there will be parents tonight that will hear the news that their loved one is gone; the result someone made the wrong choice to drink and drive," she said.
Holidays have been tough over the years, including the first Christmas after Patty's death. "I remember sitting there wondering, do I hang the stocking or do I not? And I said to hang it, people will come in and think I'm probably crazy, but to not hang it would be that I'm not acknowledging that she was part of our family. So I argued with myself for quite a while and decided I would hang it," Nunnallee recalled.
Karolyn says a month after Patty's death, she forgave Larry Mahoney. Mahoney was driving drunk the wrong way on I-71. His blood alcohol level was more than two times the legal limit. He served nearly 11 years in prison and was released in 1999.
"Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. I will never forget what he did. But, I hold no malice. I let him go so he would not have a hold of me," she said.
30 years later, Karolyn still holds on to a speech Patty wrote 5 days before her death. She competed against high school students and won.
"The last line was, 'You must be careful to make the right choices because you may only have one chance.' What little did I know the legacy she would leave me and how true her words were," she said.
►Contact reporter Robert Bradfield at rbradfield@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@RobertBreports) and Facebook.