Memorial dedicated to couple who died in car fire

A memorial is now in place for a local young couple who died suddenly this past New Year’s Day.

A ceremony was held Sunday at Madison College for two students who died when their car caught fire this winter.

Friends and family of Amy Damon and Brandon Slattery honored the couple with a bench, a plaque, and a tree in front of the college’s new Education Building.

Friends said the death of Damon and Slattery still seems strange, but the memorial is something they would have wanted.

“I think at the end of the day we’ll never understand why this happened,” said friend Heather Lauter. “But it’s nice to have this celebration of them because I think that’s what they would want, is this happy occasion.”

The couple was planning to be married.

The cause of that fire was officially labeled as undetermined, while authorities have called their deaths accidental.