Sheboygan, WI (WHBL) – Haley Haen was Dawn Zeir’s, “Mini Me."
Dawn says that’s how she referred to her daughter because of their striking resemblance to each other. “She was my "Mini Me." Everybody told her that. She hated to hear that she looked just like me. She hated it… but she knew it,” Dawn says.
Although Haley didn’t fancy the name “Mini Me,” she absolutely embraced the name Haley “Fuentes,” which she adopted as a pseudo name to pretend she was married to her favorite rock star. According to Dawn, even Haley’s closest high school friends from North High School played right along with her, by calling her Haley Fuentes. Dawn says, “People from her work at Walmart, and people from Facebook really thought that was her last name, and she really thought that was funny.”
But, that’s only a small part of the story now unfolding about the bright light Haley is known for shining around those who knew her. Even people who worked with Haley at her new job at the Cucina Restaurant considered Haley part of their family. Cucina is donating Haley’s favorite food,Sicilian Cannoli, for the family’s repast.
WHBL News reached Dawn as she drove to view the memorial that is growing at the site of Haley's crash.
Zeir says that since Haley died in a car accident on Saturday, her family has received an enormous amount of support from many members of the community she never knew her daughter came into contact with - in a positive way. “We have had so many people that we don’t know just come by the house and pay respects. It’s been so overwhelming to see that Haley touched so many lives," the mother says.
Haley’s Chevy Cruz collided with an eighteen-wheeler at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Business Drive.
This is her family’s worst nightmare. But, Dawn also says she is having trouble coping with what are widely viewed by many as insensitive postings made on social media, during her daughter’s final moments - as first responders tried desperately to revive Haley.
The distraught mother explains that in particular, she takes issue with postings to the so called, “Incident Response” page.
She says she wanted to know what happened to her daughter, and clicked onto the site to get a view of the scene, because emergency crews kept her from getting up close.
“When they came to get me from my job and I finally saw those pictures, I didn’t mind them showing the car, but when they showed my daughter on that stretcher - doing CPR on her, it just crushed me…and that should not be allowed.“
Dawn says that she contacted the website’s owner to voice her dismay, but alleges that her post was deleted. So were the postings of countless others who opposed the graphic images of the accident scene.
Despite experiencing the trauma of viewing the images of her daughter’s body on social media, Dawn says her faith, combined with rays of enduring hope, keep her spirits up during these otherwise trying times. She feels that Haley is still close by. “When my pastor was at our house, in our garage - he said a prayer, and a neighbor boy ran across the street to our house and showed us that a rainbow that was pointing to our house – and there was not a drop of rain in sight.
An investigation continues into the cause of the accident, and funeral arrangements for Haley are pending.