A 24-year-old flight instructor from Martin County died in a single-vehicle car crash near Jupiter this month, days before what would have been her 25th birthday.
Jacqueline Elizabeth Funes of Palm City died the morning of Aug. 1 after crashing her 2024 Honda Accord into a tree in a forested area near the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
The crash happened shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 1 on the 17700 block of Pratt Whitney Road, according to a sheriff’s office crash report.
Investigators say Funes was driving south on Pratt Whitney when, for reasons unknown, she steered sharply to the left and veered across the northbound lane. She ran off the east side of the road onto the grass shoulder and continued into the forested area.
Medics took Funes to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. She died about an hour after the crash, the sheriff’s office said.
Crash victim Jacqueline Funes was 2017 South Fork High graduate
Funes would have turned 25 on Tuesday, Aug. 6, sheriff’s records showed. Neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to be a factor in the crash. Funes was not wearing a seat belt, investigators said in the crash report.
An online profile indicated that Funes was a 2017 South Fork High School graduate, where she took part in band, theater and choir, and that she became a certified flight instructor last year. Since July 2023, she worked at Aamro Aviation at the North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport near Palm Beach Gardens, according to the profile.
The company posted a statement regarding Funes’ death on Instagram.
“Everyday, Jackie would come into the office and find a way to put a smile on our faces,” the statement read, in part. “Every step of the way, Jackie encouraged and supported her students the same way she did with her friends. Her sense of humor was second to none and she had the ability to change the mood of a room in an instant.
“We love you Jackie, Blue skies and tail winds.”
Funeral information was not immediately available.
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Source: tcpalm
