A San Luis Obispo County employee killed in a crash on Highway 41 last week was honored at Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisors meeting.
“Rarely, I believe, we have the opportunity to know someone so exceptional as Gemma,” San Luis Obispo County Director of Social Services Devin Drake said before supervisors when referring to Gemma Salting.
An employment/resource specialist employed by the county for seven years, Salting, 58, of Atascadero, was reportedly on her way to work the morning of Aug. 11 when her vehicle crashed into equipment that had fallen off a truck on Highway 41 outside Morro Bay. Her vehicle then went down an embankment and hit a tree. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Drake said there was a constant theme when he spoke with Salting’s coworkers. “When I see themes like that, then I know this person really was this way,” Drake said at the meeting. “The themes were: She never had an unkind word to say about anybody, that if there was a conversation happening that may turn in that direction, she’d simply walk away. She was kind to the very core.
Multiple of the individuals said it’s who I wanted to be, and so, when we lose someone like that, it leaves a huge hole, but we’re also extremely blessed to have known someone like that.”
A gofundme created for Salting’s family had raised $2,200 as of Tuesday afternoon.
“What should have been a meaningful day of sending Isaiah off to his first day of college is now filled with unimaginable grief,” the GoFundMe stated in part about Salting, who was both a wife and mother. “Danny and Isaiah are facing the pain of losing someone so deeply loved, while also trying to manage the many responsibilities and expenses that come with moving forward after such a sudden loss."
Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned in Salting’s name.
