Myakka City woman killed in ATV accident remembered as being family's sunshine
On the eve of Hurricane Ian’s landfall, Ashley Zadai carefully placed crystals all around her family home — a ward against any disasters the storm might bring.
When the hurricane landed, her family gathered and sat as darkness descended once they lost power. Undeterred, 22-year-old Ashley Zadai and her younger sister, Skylar, donned headlamps to illuminate their colorful artwork as they drew for some eight hours.
After the storm passed, the family emerged from their home safe.
A possible tornado had touched down nearby, breaking down trees and fencing. A barn on the property was damaged by strong gusts. The family tree, an old oak sprouting next to the house usually covered in staghorn and a violet wildflower, lost a limb after it was split down the middle.
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Beth Doerner, Ashley Zadai’s mom, said that as news of the damage caused by the storm began to be reported, the family kept saying, “We are so blessed.”
“Then we went to bed that Thursday night, and we’ll never have a good normal ever again,” Doerner said.
Ashley Zadai died in an ATV rollover accident
In the early hours of Sept. 30, Ashley Zadai died in an ATV rollover accident after the six-passenger vehicle she was in swerved to avoid a washed-out section of the road caused by the storm.
It was a road Ashley Zadai and her friends had taken hundreds of times before. They had been out checking on others in the area. No one could have predicted what would happen.
Her family, heartbroken by the loss of their oldest daughter, said that she was doing what she loved with the people she loved.
“We don’t want anyone to carry the burden,” Doerner said.
Doerner, tearing up, said it’s been hard seeing people complain about the things they lost. She’d give up everything — every picture, memento, even her home — to have her daughter back.
“People don’t realize, things are replaceable. You can make new memories,” Doerner said. “But we can’t make new memories with her. Ours had a limit, and we didn’t even know it.”
‘We called her our sunshine’
Growing up in and around the area, Ashley Zadai didn’t know a stranger.
When she was younger, her family recalled how she would wander up to other families on the beach to ask politely for a snack. When her dad took her to the volunteer fire station, she’d go up to the firefighters sitting on the couch and make them get up so she could dig for coins in the cushions.
Her dad, Pat Zadai, said his daughter wasn’t the type to run away from helping people. She’d often hold open doors and say hello to strangers.
“We called her our sunshine,” Doerner said. “This might sound so cliché, but she was so full of life and just brought the fun.”
She’d befriend almost anyone, making people feel seen and that they belonged, Pat Zadai said.
Ashley Zadai’s best friend since kindergarten, Haley Ponder, echoed that sentiment when she recalled memories of her childhood friend who she described as a truly honest, genuine and good-hearted person.
The two grew up together, practically like twin sisters, spending hours upon hours sharing secrets, collecting sea glass along the beach, and sometimes even just sitting in silence together.
“Ashley was the type of friend that you could just sit in a room and do nothing, not even say anything, and still have a great time,” Ponder said.
Ponder recalled when her friend surprised her during their senior year of high school. The previous year, Ashley Zadai had attended Lakewood Ranch High School but decided to return to Venice High School. Ponder was getting ready for school when her mom said she had a surprise.
The door opened and in walked Ashley Zadai with the news that the two would again be classmates.
“I’ll always love her forever,” Ponder said. “A day will never go by that I won’t think of her.”
Doerner said her daughter saw the beauty in everything around her and really connected with the environment. If she wasn’t painting or drawing or glamming herself up, she’d be outside riding ATVs, horseback riding, taking care of animals, chasing after snakes, and watching the sunset at the beach.
She'd often help her dad and stepdad with projects, quickly picking up on how to use heavy machinery and being unafraid of getting her hands dirty.
She was also a daredevil. Sabrina Zadai, her stepmom, said she once dared Ashley Zadai to ride on the back of a cow. Her stepdaughter didn't think twice, mounting the white and black mammal and holding on as the cow tried to buck her off.
Her fondness for sea glass, seashells, and crystals was the manifestation of her connection to her surroundings and sense of adventure.
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Coming into her own and finding her passion in life
Her stepdad, Dan Armstrong, said 2022 was Ashley Zadai's year and that it seemed as though she had finally found herself.
After starting school for nursing and then switching to a dental assistant program, she found her calling as a hairstylist.
“She was on fire that girl,” Doerner said.
She would have graduated from Fashion Focus Hair Academy in Sarasota this October and would have started working at Modish Salon in Sarasota as an assistant stylist.
In her memory, the salon has created the “Achieving the Ashley Jade Dream” scholarship. The $10,000 scholarship will help send an applicant to Fashion Focus Academy in her honor.
Applicants can email the owner with an essay for a chance to be chosen, Doerner said.
The family has established the Ashley Zadai Memorial Scholarship Fund, with donations going directly toward continuing Skylar Zadai's education.
Loved ones continue to honor Ashley
Right before the hurricane swept through, Ashley Zadai joined her dad at the Bearadise Ranch Bear Preserve to begin building new fencing. She spent the day sending Snapchats to friends about being a "hair stylist one day, fence builder the next."
Ashley Zadai wouldn’t get to see it finished.
Sixteen days after her death, her entire family went and finished the job for her because she would have wanted to see it through, Pat Zadai said.
While a piece will always feel like it's missing for Ashley Zadai’s family, her presence is still seen and felt in small ways that make a big impact.
Bristol, Ashley Zadai's youngest sister, asked if her sister and God could come to visit for lunch one day, Sabrina Zadai said. Tears came to her eyes knowing her daughter didn't understand that she wouldn't see her sister again.
Both her sisters now wear necklaces with three little triangles joined together with only one filled in — each signifying if they’re the oldest, middle, or youngest sister.
The third necklace will hang wrapped around Ashley’s urn, Doerner said.
The support they’ve received from those around them has been overwhelming, the family said.
Ashley Zadai's phone will still occasionally light up, a new notification pinging onto the screen.
Those who knew her are reaching out with one final text: A last goodbye. A last thank you. A last “I love you.”
Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Hurricane Ian deaths: Family share life of Myakka City woman killed
