Image

March 3, 2017

Friends are trying to ease the burdens of a Petrolia family after an accident claimed the life their wife and mother.

Danielle Mezzatesta lost her life in a horrific car accident on Churchill Line earlier this year, leaving behind her husband, Jamie and their three boys, Ian, Isaac and Elliot.
Danielle was a OB RPN Nurse in Point Edward. Her husband, Jamie works at Waterville and their three boys attend Petrolia schools.

Claudine Thompson Krale is one of the Jamie’s co-workers who is organizing a benefit Saturday night at the Petrolia Legion. The idea is to ease financial burden’s for the family as they deal with their grief and to set up trust funds for the boys.

Thompson Krale was working at Waterville the day they learned of the accident. “We were just in shock and thinking about Jamie,” she says. “We couldn’t believe it was so close to home.”

Thompson Krale says donations for the family were taken on the plant floor, but some of Jamie’s friends wanted to do more. “A couple of his good friends that he hung out with they said we’d like to put a benefit together,” she says.

The plans came together including bands, raffles and draws to raise money for the family and the organizers are hoping for a good turn out Saturday.

Thompson Krale says people who have talked with Jamie – who has yet to return to work – say he’s amazed by the support. “He’s extremely overwhelmed; he can’t believe how much family and love and support there was, how his friends have come together.”

For more information about Saturday’s benefit click here https://www.facebook.com/events/1232676690141637/

 

Share This

Image
Front Page

Killer Bees’ Feasey to coach Maroons

July 12, 2025

Barry Wright/The Independent Alvinston Killer Bees star Brennan Feasey is the new head coach of the Sutherland Cup champion Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The new job came about after Richard Santos left the Maroons this week to become the new head coach of the U16 boys prep team with Biosteel Sports Academy in Windsor and

Read More

Image
Front Page

Still standing (with some help) after 200 years

July 12, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent When Abraham Smith and his wife, Anna Hoy, arrived on the shores of the St. Clair River, there was nothing but trees which blocked out the sun. The couple landed around what we now know as the St. Clair Parkway and Smith Line in 1820, along with two children and another family, and settled in the area.

Read More

Image
Front Page

Remembering Croton

July 12, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Harold Snary stands under a tree in the postal village of Croton. Those standing with him see a new, siding-clad school and church, a few homes and the traffic whizzing down Oakdale Road. At the corner of Oakdale and Croton Road, they might notice the building which used to be the general store. For most, this 39-person

Read More

Image
Front Page

Lambton lands part of 30×30 project

July 11, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Almost 700 acres of land along the Sydenham River, including some in Petrolia and Wawrick, will be recognized as conservation lands in Ontario. It’s part of an international plan to protect 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea by 2030. Tim Payne, manager of forests for the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority, was contacted by

Read More