Gordon-Roche had just picked her husband up from work and was driving home when an out-of-control SUV smashed into the rear of their small Honda sedan at about 5:30 p. m. near Valley Inn Road in Hamilton.

The impact drove their car across the centre median and into the path of an oncoming pickup truck, crushing the Honda and killing the Roches and their West Highland terrier, Piper-Bear.

Gordon-Roche, who grew up in Waterdown and attended Hillfield Strathallan College, is the daughter of Hamilton Arts Award-winning Waterdown artist V. Jane Gordon and Donald Gordon. An honours student who had won a scholarship to the University of Western Ontario (UWO), she was finishing a combined masters-PhD in public-health epidemiology. She was a longtime advocate for the well-being of women and children and the prevention of domestic violence.

Gordon met Roche while they were students at UWO. After dating six years, Roche proposed to Gordon two years ago and the couple married on June 6 in Etobicoke.

According the the Hamilton Police Service, Allan Maki, a 40-year-old Stoney Creek man, was heading north on York Boulevard near the High Level Bridge when he lost control of his vehicle, striking and killing an elderly cyclist, 81-year-old Hamilton resident Ton Vi Duong at the start of the bridge. Maki’s SUV then continued around a curve and eastbound across the bridge before smashing into the rear of the Roches’ car then going off the road. Maki was taken to hospital with minor injuries and released.

Initial police reports indicated that Maki, a diabetic, might have suffered a medical emergency before the mishap but the circumstances of the chain-reaction collision are still under investigation. Maki has been charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing death. He will appear in court July 20.

Kitching, Steepe & Ludwig Funeral Home in Waterdown looked after funeral arrangements for the newlyweds. The funeral service was slated to be held Thursday morning at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, Burlington. Interment was at Parklawn Cemetery, Toronto.

Besides her parents, Gordon-Roche is survived by her brothers, Rupert Hallan Gordon and his wife, Rebecca Tuff and Nicholas Zachary Gordon and his wife, Carolina Sobczyk; nieces Eliza and Charlotte Tuff-Gordon; and aunts and uncles, Dr. Michael Waye and Pat Waye of Calgary; Suzanne Marion Lyle of Limpley Stoke, England and Ann Anderson-Wilcox of Acton.

Friends and relatives are invited to sign the Book of Condolence at www.ObituariesToday.com .