Pocatello mother killed in DUI car crash remembered as someone with ‘love and understanding for everyone’

POCATELLO – A family is grieving after losing someone who was a mother, sister and caregiver in a tragic car crash.

Lena Phelps, 29, died from the injuries she received from a two-vehicle collision on Dec. 27. Speaking to EastIdahoNews.com, her sister, Sariah Gaunt, described her as someone who was “filled with compassion, love, and understanding for everyone.”

“She just always took care of me, and she was my best friend in the whole world, and she was the greatest sister I could ever ask for,” Sariah said.

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The crash occurred at approximately 7 p.m. at the intersection of North Arthur Avenue and West Clark Street. According to court documents, Lena was driving eastbound on Clark and had entered the intersection when a pick-up truck crashed into her driver’s side door, sending her vehicle rolling.

Guy Garry Guerrero, 25, allegedly drove the pick-up truck. Guerrero has received multiple charges, including aggravated driving under the influence.

Pictures taken of the scene show Lena’s vehicle at rest by the parking lot of Pioneer Title, which is around 150 feet away from the intersection.

Lena and a passenger, who survived the incident, were transported to the hospital. When Sariah received the call that Lena had not survived, she “couldn’t breathe” and she “just couldn’t stop crying.”

“Lena was like everything in the world to me. It’s just – it’s the worst thing I could ever imagine happening,” Sariah said.

Lena, who was widowed at 26 years old, is survived by her three children. The kids, who are eight, five, and three years old, are in the care of their great-aunt.

Sariah said that Lena’s children are so young that they don’t yet fully understand what happened to their mother.

(Her youngest) doesn’t really understand what’s going on, and the other two … don’t really know what to do with their emotions,” Sariah said.

Sariah said that as they grew up, Lena applied the skills she learned from her mother and aunt, who were nurses, to take care of herself and other family members.

“I was sick a lot, and Lena was the one that took care of me. (And) when my grandpa was dying, Lena spent almost all of her time over at my grandparents house,” Sariah said.

Lena’s obituary describes her as “the heart and soul of everyone who knew her.”

One of those people who knew her was Stephanie Stander.

Stander has known Lena since she was “little” as she’s a friend of her family. As Lena grew older, she occasionally spent time babysitting Stander’s children.

But then, when Stander was pregnant with her third child, she was put on bed rest for an extended period of time. Lena, who was 12 years old then, needed to complete service hours for school and recognized Stander’s need.

“There’s not many 12-year-old girls that are just that sweet and that intuitive,” Stander said.

During Stander’s pregnancy, Lena came over most afternoons while her husband was at work, and took care of her children and kept her company.

“She kept my spirits light, kept the kids having fun, rather than them just feeling so closed in all the time from mom not being able to do much. She was wonderful,” Stander said.

To people who are considering driving a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Stander said, “too many of us have been hurt by other choices to drink and drive, or get high and drive, and it’s not worth somebody else’s life.”

Sariah said that she wants “to be angry so bad” at the driver of the pick-up truck, but she knows that’s not what Lena would want.

“I want to be angry so bad. I just feel like Lena’s voice is in my head,” Sariah said.

“Lena would want me to make sure that he was okay, and Lena wouldn’t want anything bad for him, and that Lena would be worried about him.”