Serge Bellegarde sat inside his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Friday trying to come to grips with the loss of his wife a day earlier. They met as Georgetown University students and were married for 37 years.
Jewel Bazilio-Bellegarde died Thursday at 68 years old after a driver lost control in a MedStar Georgetown University Hospital parking garage and hit her and five other people. The mother and grandmother was retired from the Health Resources and Services Administration after a distinguished career with the federal government.
“Everybody loved her — a very human person, always ready to help,” Bellegarde said in the home he had shared with his wife.
She was waiting for her car at a valet stand in a hospital parking garage on Thursday afternoon when she was hit by an SUV.
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“The impact was strong, I suppose. The doctor said that she died instantly, so we are just waiting for the investigation and finding out exactly what happened,” Bellegarde said.
Hospital workers and an off-duty D.C. police officer rushed to help the victims. A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said the driver of the SUV was a 39-year-old D.C. woman. She told investigators she was making a three-point turn when she accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake.
Jewel Bazilio-Bellegarde’s friends and family valued her advice, her widower said.
“I always say that you have to trust a woman’s instincts. She had a wonderful instinct and was very versed in a variety of issues, whether it was development, education. So, yes, it’s a big loss, a big loss,” he said.
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Family and friends filled their home on Friday. Others called and said they rarely saw the two apart from each other.
“It’s a loss all around,” Bellegarde said.
