Harlie Rascoe, a seventh-grader at Saranac Lake Middle School, died after a snowmobile accident at her family’s home Saturday afternoon.

Her best friend Christina “Tina” Harvey was seriously injured in the single-snowmobile crash at the home on McMaster Road. She, too, is in seventh grade at Saranac Lake Middle School.

Lauren Harvey said her daughter Christina was still in critical condition Sunday afternoon.

Lauren said Sunday night that spinal surgery was scheduled for today, but told the Enterprise this morning that the surgery had been postponed.

Christina "Tina" Harvey (Photo from family's GoFundMe site)

Community members shared heartbreak and positive messages about both girls on Facebook and on GoFundMe websites set up to collect donations for their families.

“I taught Harlie for two years,” Sue Van Nortwick wrote on the Rascoe family’s GoFundMe page. “I never saw her without a smile. She was one of the kindest young ladies I have ever known. I will miss seeing her beautiful, smiling face in the hallways. My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones.”

Lauren Harvey said Christina’s father, step-mother and other family have arrived in Burlington from outside of the area.

“They have been a rock for me,” she said.

“We have been a broken family, and Christina and poor Harlie have given me my family back and pulled this community together,” Lauren said. “I have never felt more love in my life than I do at this moment.”

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The crash

An autopsy Sunday revealed Rascoe’s cause of death to be multiple traumatic injuries, according to Frank Whitelaw, who is serving as deputy Franklin County coroner in Ron Keough’s absence.

“She was in tough shape; she took a hard hit,” Whitelaw said. “There was no saving her. Even if we would have had a team of trauma surgeons right there it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Whitelaw said Rascoe was driving the snowmobile while Harvey was the passenger. He said neither girl was wearing a helmet.

“It appears that the first point of contact was the driver’s-side side-view mirror on the truck that was parked in the driveway,” Whitelaw said. “And then they struck the plow that was attached (to the truck), and then they veered off to the left and struck a tree.

“That was where Christina was ejected. Then the snowmobile traveled probably about another 15 to 20 feet into the center of the driveway, (where) it came to rest, and Harlie had been ejected at that point.”

Whitelaw said the snowmobile was kind of on its side and that Rascoe was still near the machine.

“Her father said to me they used to do quarter-mile laps, going around the houses,” Whitelaw added. “This was not an unusual thing; it just went bad this time.”

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“Always smiling”

Kailey Kipping, an eighth-grader who was on the school’s modified volleyball team with Rascoe, said Rascoe was always happy, even when there was drama or strife around her.

“She was just like the sweetest person,” Kipping said. “She was always smiling, and she was always just really, really happy. I remember all the really long bus rides to the away games, and we would always play on my iPad, and I had Photobooth and she was always smiley and giggly.

“At the end of the season, we had the paper plate awards, and I drew Harlie’s name and had to make an award for her, and I chose ‘Always smiling.'”

Kipping said the volleyball team has been talking and hopes that the whole school wears red and white Monday in Harlie’s honor.

Lauren Harvey also said students are wearing red and white Monday for the girls.

“Christina Harvey is and always has been a resilient and strong, amazing woman, and she has pulled our whole town together, and it’s because of hers and Harlie’s amazing, beautiful souls that they’ve proved ‘It takes a village to raise a child,'” she said.

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Support

Aunts of the girls set up the GoFundMe pages. Harvey’s can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/christina-tina-harvey, and Rascoe’s is at https://www.gofundme.com/harlie-rascoes-family-fund.

A fundraising dinner for the two girls’ families will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21 at the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department, Eric Wilson announced.

The Saranac Lake Central School District will offer counseling services to all students in the district this week.