County residents were shaken by the deaths of three community members in two separate accidents on Friday and Saturday.

Blasa Carrillo, 25, and Marc Clinton Cervantes, 40, both of Refugio, died Saturday, Jan. 3, at 5:45 p.m. after their vehicle collided with a Chevrolet Suburban on Farm-to-Market 136 just south of the county line. The couple were returning from a funeral service of Cervantes’ mother, Mona Lisa Jones.

On Friday, Jan. 2, Rogelio Ortiz, 47, of Woodsboro was killed in a one-vehicle motorcycle accident in Gregory just after 6 p.m. Ortiz hit a concrete guardrail on State Highway 35 near the U.S. Highway 181 exit. He was ejected 20 feet into the air and went over the guardrail onto the ground below. Ortiz was wearing a helmet.

Carrillo was traveling north on FM 136 in a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville at a high rate of speed and drifted off the road in a curve, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Carrillo skidded onto the roadway when she tried to steer the car back onto the highway. The vehicle crossed into the southbound lane and the right passenger’s side of the Pontiac struck the front of the 1999 Chevy Suburban.

Aransas County Justice of the Peace Patrick Daly pronounced him dead at the scene at 8:30 p.m.

Carrillo was flown by Halo-Flight air ambulance to Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi where she died later that night in surgery.

The Suburban went off the roadway into a ditch. The vehicle was driven by Amancio Bazan, 63, and passengers included his wife, Guadalupe Bazan, 63, their daughter, Leslie Bazan, 28, all of Rio Grande City, and Leslie’s three children, Ashley, 11, Deric, 5, and Erica, 1.

Amancio Bazan, 63, suffered a broken hip and lacerations, Guadalupe sustained bruises and lacerations; Leslie, multiple cuts and bruises; Ashley and Deric had cuts and bruises; Erica suffered cuts. The girls were taken by ambulance to Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi and Deric was airlifted to the children’s hospital.

All the members of the family are listed in stable condition.

Carrillo worked at both nursing homes in Refugio.

“She worked here for a year in housekeeping and laundry,” said Jim Carr, owner of Refugio Manor. “She wanted to be a nurses aid so we sent her to school. She recently graduated in December with a CNA certificate. She had a lot of energy and she was a hard worker. It’s sad.”

She began working a second job at the Mission Ridge on her day off at the Manor.

“She was a good aide,” said Jennifer Steele, administrator at Mission Ridge. “The residents really liked her.”