Jewel Bazilio-Bellegarde died at 68 after a driver lost control in a MedStar Georgetown University Hospital parking garage and hit her and five other people. News4’s Paul Wagner spoke with her widower.
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.
