Grace Horn’s parents thought she was asleep at a friend’s house on the night she died. Grace snuck out of the house, but instead of getting into typical teenage trouble, the 15-year-old logged into her mother’s DoorDash account to work as a delivery person on Washington state’s Whidbey Island. She planned to use the extra cash to pay for Christmas gifts for her family and friends.
Sadly, during the early morning hours on December 2, 2024, the teen from Oak Harbor lost control of her car. It veered off the road and struck a pole. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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“There’s no end, she’d literally do anything for anyone,” Grace’s father Jacob Horn, told KIRO 7. “She’s always wanted to give things to people.” The crash happened around 3 a.m. on Highway 20 near Libbey Road on Whidbey Island in Washington. Now, candles, flowers, and spray-painted tributes line the place where the accident occurred.
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Her parents didn’t know she was driving for the company. In order to work as a DoorDash driver, Horn used her mother’s account. The company occasionally requires users to verify their identity with a selfie. They compare it to the driver’s license on file. The country’s 100,000 drivers or “Dashers” must verify each week. Her parents had no idea all of this was going on behind their backs.
“We didn’t know,” her mother Jennifer said of Grace being out. “Sometimes her huge heart clouded her judgment.”
The days since her passing have naturally been devastating for her parents. Friends have been coming by to help cook and clean but the effort only go so far.
“Ever since then it just feels like we’re hollow,” Jennifer said. “To the point where you cry and there’s no more tears, you just get a headache from crying,” Jacob added.
As her parents are dealing with their grief, Grace’s older bother Gauvin is grieving while trying to be a support to his parents. “He’s doing okay, he’s coping the best he can as a teenage boy,” Jennifer said. “He’s trying to be strong for us. He sees that we are destroyed. I can’t even think of a better word for it. So, he tries to be strong for us.”
Grace had such a big heart, her parents want their work going forward to honor her. Jennifer was awarded a Purple Heart after she was injured during a mortar explosion while she was serving in Iraq. Now, she plans to wear it on her sleeve in memory of her daughter. The family is also planning on giving back in a way Grace would.
“We’ve talked about creating a space for kids called Grace’s Place so we want to live on her legacy because that’s what she’d want us to do,” Jennifer said.
