Loved ones mourn deaths of deadly I-90 crash

After a unified count of 5-6-7-8 — a cue familiar to cheerleaders everywhere — more than 100 people released red, black and white balloons Monday night on the city’s Northwest Side in Oriole Park in honor of an Oriole Park Falcons cheerleading and football family, which was struck in a head-on collision on I-90 over the weekend.

Only the father, Thomas Dobosz, 32, survived the fiery crash in the overnight hours of Sunday when a gray Acura TSX sedan, driven by Jennifer Fernandez, 22, of Carpentersville, was going the wrong way on the tollway near Hampshire and collided with the Chevrolet van Dobosz was driving.

Lauren Dobosz, 31, and their four children — Emma, 13, Lucas, 7, Nicholas, 6 and Ella, 5 — all died at the scene. Another girl, also 13, died in the crash, according to police.

Thomas Dobosz was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with severe injuries.

[ State police identify victims in I-90 crash that killed mother, 5 children ]

Illinois State Police provided no updates Monday and said the investigation into the crash is ongoing. The family was on their way to their cabin in Minnesota when the collision occurred, according to family friend and football coach Luis Hernandez, who attended the “celebration of life” for the family on Monday.

Hernandez had coached Nicolas, who went by Nicky, for two days before the fatal crash.

”That little boy told me, he said: ‘When I get back from Minnesota, coach, I can’t wait to come back and practice.’ Those words will stick with me forever,” Hernandez said.

Both kids and adults spoke at the vigil Monday night about the family’s love and contributions to the tightknit community, with Lauren known to make bows for the cheerleaders and goody bags for the children. She once washed 100 jerseys for the team.

She was known for her love of cheetah print, and several cheetah-print balloons were released along with the balloon colors of red, black and white — the Falcons’ team colors.

Lauren coached cheerleading while Thomas served as director of concessions.

Hernandez spoke of the team’s sense of family.

”Anybody that comes to this organization knows that what we are about is more than just a game. Once you come in, you’re family and you are accepted for life — you might be a little dysfunctional, but at the end of the day…” he said, trailing off, tears in his eyes.

”A lot of us are crying right now. But I promise you, their names will remain here for life. This is just the beginning,” he said. “I promise you, we will keep their names alive for life. The impact this family had on our organization will never die. I promise you we will keep the name alive.”

Sharon Swank, the Oriole Park Falcons’ secretary, also spoke about the family and Lauren’s contributions to the team.

”We don’t come across families like them very often, the ones that are so dedicated and do so much,” she said. “So I just want to say right now, Lauren, if you can hear me: I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. You are an amazing, amazing person, loving person. A wonderful mom. A great, great coach.”

Falcons cheer director Ryan Cooper said Lauren would be honored to see how many people showed up at the vigil. The sounds of people crying mixed with kids playing during the warm and sunny evening.

The Dobosz children, she added, were “amazing and full of life.”

”We have a saying here: ‘Once a Falcon, always a Falcon.’ And I think that means a little bit more now than it did before,” she said.

A GoFundMe page set up to help cover the family’s funeral expenses had raised more than $45,000 by Monday night.

Earlier Monday, mourners left flowers, candles and stuffed animals around a tree in the front yard of the family’s Rolling Meadows home.

Family friend and neighbor Charlotte Rybarczyk, 58, lives two doors down from the Dobosz family’s house. Her kids grew up playing with Lauren, the mother. She babysat the young Dobosz kids, who she says were spitting images of their mom.

The kids loved to ride their bikes, Rybarczyk said. They’d walk over to ask her what she was doing as she gardened. She heard them splashing and giggling in the plastic pool their father would set out every summer.

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“Just energy. They were happy, always happy and perky,” she said.

When another neighbor called to tell Rybarczyk about the accident, she first felt disbelief. It was just too sad, she said.

“It’s hard to look there and know that they’re not going to come running down the driveway,” Rybarczyk said.

At the vigil, Swank, the Falcons’ secretary, asked that everyone keep Tom, the father, in their prayers.

“Tom, right now, I know he’s not doing so well. Please keep him in your prayers,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s gonna make it but hopefully he will. And if he does, he’s gonna need everybody’s love and support.”

“And please, everybody, just hug your kids tighter tonight. Life is short and you just never know what’s gonna happen,” Swank said. “But thankfully we’re all family here at Oriole Park. We can count on each other, we can lean on each other when times are tough.”

Chicago Tribune reporters Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas and Tatyana Turner contributed.