YORKTOWN, Va. — October 26, 2019, is a day that Tammy Guido McGee will never be able to shake.
Her 16-year-old son, Conner, got into a car with two other Tabb High School students. She said the driver didn’t have a license, and he wasn’t even old enough to drive.
“Left the school going 70 mph in a 35,” McGee said. “Took a corner, hit a tree, flipped the car, and killed all three of them instantly.”
Almost three years later now, the loss of her son has shaped everything she is and does. It sparked her mission to help save other teens.
"It took a while for it to manifest itself, but at some point, I felt I had to do something," McGee said. "I had to stand up, and I had to speak out to keep another parent from having to go through what I’ve been through."
McGee started the Conner Gweedo Memorial Foundation, honoring her son, affectionately known as “Gweedo.”
She described Conner as someone who loved to make people laugh and a fierce competitor on the soccer field. He was recruited to play goalkeeper at the collegiate level before his death.
The foundation is all about teen driver education - something she believes a lot of parents don’t know enough about.
“It’s the number one cause of teen deaths, and it’s the one thing we can help,” she said.
Conner’s car is now a mobile billboard for safe driving that McGee takes all over, hoping parents get the message.
The foundation also awards an annual scholarship to a graduating senior in Conner’s name.
"I feel like this is my purpose now," McGee said. "I know he is shining down on me, and that he is proud of me."
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