Second passenger in E. Northport ambulette crash dies

The surviving passenger of an April ambulette crash in East Northport has died of her injuries, Suffolk County police said.

Lorraine Shanahan, 71, never regained the ability to speak after last month's crash, said her son, Tim Shanahan. She died May 12 - a day before her 72nd birthday - after spending her final days in a hospice, he said.

Police have said that the April 28 crash, which also killed a 96-year-old passenger, occurred when a mother driving a Ford Explorer with her 6-year-old twins disobeyed a stop sign and struck the rear of the ambulette in which Shanahan was a passenger - causing the ambulette to flip.

Explorer driver Laurie Tjornhom, 49, wasn't charged, police said. Tjornhom, her children and ambulette driver Spiro Bekas did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

Det. Lt. Thomas O'Heir, commanding officer of Suffolk's Second Squad detectives, confirmed Lorraine Shanahan's death. Her son said she died of blunt-impact injuries to the head and chest.

At the time of the late afternoon crash, Shanahan and the 96-year-old passenger, Ulysses Taylor of Huntington, were being shuttled home from St. Johnland Nursing Center in Kings Park, a senior facility where they'd spend their days.

"For seven hours a day, she had a life," Tim Shanahan said. "She loved it."

At St. Johnland, seniors work on arts and crafts, attend church services, play bingo and Wii video game bowling and more, he said.

Lorraine Shanahan lived in her son's East Northport home on Third Avenue, and she was almost home when the Explorer struck the ambulette.

"Another 45 seconds and she would have been at my front door," Shanahan said.

He recalled his mother as a lifelong Long Islander and hardworking widow who raised three sons on her own after her husband, Timothy, died in 1968 of a brain aneurysm.

To support her family, she took a series of odd jobs around town and eventually landed at Huntington Hospital in 1980 - the same hospital where she was born in 1938. There she would work nearly a quarter century in food service.

Her funeral was Saturday at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Greenlawn. Besides her son Tim, Shanahan is survived by brother Ronald Johnson; sisters Edna Rowehl and Elaine Rooney; sons Ronald and Sean; and seven grandchildren. She was buried in a grave with her husband at St. Philip Neri Cemetery in East Northport.

"He's been waiting for her," Tim Shanahan said.

Tim Shanahan, 47, said injuries from the crash left her only able to squeeze his hand and mouth "bye-bye."

"It's surreal," Tim Shanahan said. "It's a sad ending."