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Friends and relatives of the five Norwood siblings who were killed in a horrific c©ar accident last month gathered Friday night to say final goodbyes at McCall’s Bronxwood Funeral Home on Bronxwood Avenue in Wakefield.

  • Ian
  • Jordan
  • Laura

Heartbroken mother Pamela Ramharrack, 48, laid to rest five of her children: Jessica, 11; Anderson, 13; Emmanuel, 16; Anthony, 21; and Perthrian, 24, who were killed as the family’s Honda Accord swerved across a Suffolk, Virginia highway and collided with an oncoming truck on Tuesday, July 24.


The oldest sibling, Perthrian GoPaul, leaves behind a husband and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She was presumed to be the driver.

As dozens of mourners packed the funeral home for the pre-funeral wake, Ramharrack said, "My kids were the most beautiful kids in the whole world. They were my million-dollar gift. They were everything to me."

The family was returning from an annual visit to North Carolina when the crash occurred.  

Neighbors of the family at 3395 Reservoir Oval West responded to news of the fatal accident with shock and sorrow for Ramharrack, who was inconsolable after she heard the news. Tenants in the building put up a small shrine of candles, flowers and teddy bears on the front stoop. The shrine has remained for a month.

After hearing of Ramharrack’s loss, community activist Joe Thompson reached out to the family, along with Pastor Jay Gooding of Fellowship Tabernacle Ministries.

"She was at sea, she was lost," Thompson said. "You can’t do this by yourself. I was moved by her circumstances, and I know Pastor Gooding was moved to help out."

They contacted other churches, the 49th Precinct Community Council and local elected officials to ask for their help in getting the word out and raising money to cover funeral expenses.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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