Pair recovers; family man remembered

By: Chase Purdy | News Virginian
Published: May 16, 2010

Described by friends as a pillar in his own home, Brij B. Ramgopal lived a life of sacrifice for his family.

When word of a fatal Interstate 64 traffic crash reached his hometown of White Bluff, Tenn., on Wednesday, friends said they couldn’t believe it.

“Our hearts are crushed,” said Karen Hamberger, of nearby Madison, Tenn. “Mr. Ramgopal was just a wonderful, sweet, caring man.”

Ramgopal, 71, along with his wife Vijay, 55, and daughter Vijayta, 18, were on their way home from a family vacation when an eastbound Buick Century driven by Edward “Link” Furrow, 29, of Waynesboro, crossed the median and smashed head-on into the Ramgopal’s 2007 Toyota Corolla.

The crash killed Furrow and Brij Ramgopal immediately, authorities said. Rescue workers airlifted Vijay and Vijayta to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, where they rested in fair condition Saturday afternoon, hospital officials said.

“All three of these people can light up a room with their smiles,” Hamberger said. “Their kindness is just unsurpassed.”

Hamberger, a secretary at Madison Academy in Madison, Tenn., said she knew Vijayta during her high school years.

“Fashion is what Vijayta is all about,” she said. “She loves fashion. She has a big smile and she’s always sociable.”

Even though his family lived almost an hour away from Madison Academy, Hamberger said it was Brij and Vijay’s wish that their children be educated at the Seventh Day Adventist school.

“They loved the land and the property they were on,” she said. “It was their dream place, but they were committed to giving their girls a Christian education.”

Madison Academy Chaplain Andrew Jamieson said Brij Ramgopal always put his family first.

“He was always someone that was very giving of himself,” Jamieson said. “The whole family, that’s how I’d classify them.”

During recent flooding in Nashville the Ramgopals were “out and about” assisting with the cleanup efforts, Jamieson said.

“Their whole family, that’s where their heart is,” he said. “Helping other people.”