Samantha Wylie

by **Wolfman** Wed 24 Aug 2022, 6:05 pm

Family remembers veteran killed in crash near Morley

Published Aug. 24, 2022

Samantha Wylie Samantha-wylie-1-6040714-1661373922074

Samantha Wylie was travelling home to Caroline. Alta., from Canmore, Alta., on her motorcycle near Highway 1A and Morley Road when an oncoming SUV crossed the centre line and collided with her head-on.

Family members of a Caroline, Alta., woman struck and killed by an impaired driver last week are remembering her loving smile, selfless attitude and incredible military career.

Around 7:35 p.m. on Aug. 19, Samantha Wylie, 53, was travelling home to Caroline from Canmore, Alta., on her motorcycle near Highway 1A and Morley Road when an oncoming SUV crossed the centre line and collided with her head-on.

“She was my best friend,” said Wylie’s daughter, Haley Perrault, who is currently eight months pregnant.

“She’d give the shirt off her back for anybody really, and she was so looking forward to being a granny. We talked about it every single day. She’d wake and ask me how baby making was going. She loved that I was pregnant and was going to give her a first grandchild.”

Wylie was a 32-year military veteran with the Canadian Armed Forces who retired as a master warrant officer in 2019. She travelled to multiple places around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey and Israel.

She also worked with several community members as a certified clinical hypnotherapist and QHHT practitioner.

“She’s dedicated her life to her country and to Canadians,” Perrault said.

“She joined the military at a time when women weren’t very well received and it was very much a man’s world and she was a trailblazer for women. She paved the way of what it really is today and where we accept women in the military.”

Wylie also received multiple medals during her career, the most prestigious being the Diamond Jubilee medal presented by the Queen.

Perrault says Wylie was the "best mom ever."

“She always looked after us and she was dedicated to her kids. She was the best and blows anybody’s mom out of the park in my opinion.”

Wylie's family also says she was an experienced motorcyclist who had more than 180,000 kilometres under her belt riding across North America.

Cochrane RCMP has now charged 33-year-old Kendra Bigstony of Morley, Alta., with the following offences:

.Operation while impaired by alcohol causing death (over 0.08);
.Operation while impaired causing death;
.Operation while impaired by alcohol causing bodily harm (over 0.08);
.Operation while impaired causing bodily harm;
.Failure to remain at the scene; and
.Driving while suspended or disqualified.
Bigstony has been released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Cochrane provincial court on Aug. 30.

“The fact that we couldn’t do the simple thing of keeping somebody in jail for 24 hours breaks my heart,” Perrault said.

“It makes me so mad. She was the matriarch of our family and we’ve lost somebody so important who served her entire life and dedicated that life to Canadians.”

The RCMP continues to investigate and is also looking for anyone who may have witnessed the collision and/or may have dash cam/video footage.

If you do, you're asked to contact Cochrane RCMP at 403-932-2211 or submit tips anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

CTV News