East Northport driver mourns loss of wife, dad in crash

Michael Preston spent Monday grieving with his family in East Northport after he was released from the hospital for injuries suffered in the car accident that killed his wife and father on the Northern State Parkway, family friends said.

A spokesman for Winthrop-University Hospital confirmed that Preston, who was driving the car to a wedding rehearsal on Friday when it left the road and hit a tree, was released late Sunday afternoon. His son Daniel, 12, who had also been in the car, was released from a different hospital that day.

The family is "just grieving at this time," said a spokesman for the Prestons, who declined to give his name.

The crash, which occurred on the westbound parkway west of Willis Avenue in Searingtown about 6:30 p.m., killed Preston's wife, Victoria, 49, and father, Theodore, 87.

Police records state that "an initial investigation indicates Michael Preston lost control of his vehicle and ran off of the roadway, onto the shoulder and into the wood line, striking a large tree before coming to rest."

Michael Preston has chest fractures, and Daniel has neck and internal injuries, records state.

Visitation for the two killed in the crash will be held at Nolan & Taylor-Howe Funeral Home on Laurel Avenue in Northport from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, a funeral home spokeswoman said.

A Mass will be said Friday at 9:45 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church, she said. Victoria Preston will be buried in St. Philip Neri Cemetery in East Northport; Theodore Preston at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.

"They were just a real close family," said Nelson Elias, a neighbor.