A couple in Wisconsin have died only days apart from each other. Husband and father Louis Nowak, 54, died from cancer on March 19, per People. His wife, Sara Nowak, 42, was killed just five hours after his funeral service in a car accident on April 1. The couple was described as a “true match” by Patricia Cartwright, Sara’s mother, per CBS 58.
Family and friends are raising money to help their children with funeral costs and household expenses.
The couple met and married only six years ago but loved being together.
Sarah and Louis were both previously married and had six children between the two of them. They were married in 2017, and once they were together they were rarely apart, according to People.
Sara’s mother Patricia Cartwright said, “Where one was, the other one was. What the other one didn’t think of, the other one did,” reported CBS 58.
They reportedly spent a lot of time camping and traveling together with each other and their family. They were “a true match,” Sara’s mother said.
Louis Nowak fought an aggressive form of cancer for six months.
The husband and father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer six months prior to his death in March 2023, per People. His obituary described him as someone who would “always be there to lend a helping hand, or to have a great conversation.”
Nowak also enjoyed “spending time with family and friends, tinkering on engines & motors, going to swap meets, camping, classic cars, and classic rock music,” according to his obituary.
The family was devastated to learn about the car accident only hours after the funeral.
Sadly, just hours after the funeral for Louis Nowak, Sara’s parents received a phone call that their daughter had been in a car accident. “It’s really hard because you get done and then five and half hours later, you get a call saying that your daughter was in an accident,” father Randal Cartwright said, according to CBS 58.
A single-vehicle car crash on State Highway 106 was reported about 8:30 p.m. April 1, per WKOW.
Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath said the driver lost control of the car and then it overturned in a ditch and both the driver and the passenger died in the accident, People reported.
More from CafeMom: Couple Leaves 1-Month-Old Son an Orphan After Both Die by Suicide in the Same Week
Friends are fundraising to help the couple's children with funeral costs.
A friend of the Nowak and Cartwright family, Cindy Krey, organized a GoFundMe page to help Sara and Louis’ six children with funeral expenses as well as household expenses.
“I have known Sara and her family for over 35 years! Sara was killed in a car accident 5 hours after her husband Louis’s funeral,” she wrote on the page. “Louis had passed from cancer on March 19th, his funeral was on Saturday April 1st. Sara went to visit Louis in heaven! They have 6 children that could really benefit with the cost of the funeral and household expenses.”
Nearly $20,000 has been raised so far to help the Nowak-Cartwright Family. About her daughter Sara, Patricia Cartwright said, “We want everyone to remember her as being full of life.”
