Boy killed in rollover crash near Vandalia

A teenage boy was killed Friday morning in a rollover crash of a pickup on Tampico Road, about 1 mile east of Vandalia. Garrett Younkin, age 13, died at the scene of the crash. Three of his siblings were also in the pickup and were injured.

They were on their way to school in Hinsdale between 8:30 and 9 a.m. when the driver, Cadence Younkin, 16, lost control of the 1998 Dodge pickup on the gravel road. The vehicle rolled five and one-quarter times, ending up on the driver's side in the borrow pit on the north side of the road. All four children were ejected.

Cadence and her brother, Cache, 11, were flown to Billings for treatment. Cadence has had surgery for closed head injuries, and will be treated later for her broken pelvis. Cache had surgery on his broken legs, both femurs and a tibia. He also suffered compression fractures of the spine. Cordell, age 7, was treated at Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital for facial cuts and a fractured orbital bone.

Cadence is in the ICU at St. Vincent. Cache is at Billings Clinic, but the family is working to move him to St. Vincent, so they will be in one location. The children's parents, Jeff and Roubie Younkin, along with their eldest son, Chase, are in Billings to be with their family. Cordell was in Billings, but came back to participate in the school Christmas program.

According to the Montana Highway Patrol, speed was a factor in the crash. None of the children was wearing a seatbelt.

Several area people were in Billings this weekend at the annual meeting of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. They reported that the stockgrowers passed around a box for donations and held an impromptu auction for the Younkins, who ranch west of Glasgow. A picture and a saddle were sold and donated back for sale over and over again, raising nearly $15,000.

An estimated 100 people packed the little St. Albert's Catholic church in Hinsdale Sunday night, according to Fr. Robert Sewvello of Glasgow. He was there to say a mass for the family and the community turned out in support.
Updates on the family are available online at www.caringbridge.com. Type in cadenceyounkin.