Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

‘Forever with me now’: Katie Gaudreau honors late brothers with her wedding ring

Johnny and Matty Gaudreau were killed Aug. 29 while out riding bikes in South Jersey on the eve of their sister's wedding.

A memorial for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who died last week when they were struck by a suspected drunk driver while riding bicycles, is shown in Salem County, N.J.
A memorial for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who died last week when they were struck by a suspected drunk driver while riding bicycles, is shown in Salem County, N.J.Read moreJessica Griffin / AP
    by Michelle Myers
    Updated 
    Published 

Katie Gaudreau is supposed to be sharing wedding and honeymoon pictures by now.

Instead, a black-and-white photo of her wedding ring engraved with a “J & M” is in her Instagram stories as tribute to her brothers who were killed on the eve of what was to be her Aug. 30 wedding.

“Forever with me now. J & M” Gaudreau wrote on the post.

Seven-time NHL all-star and Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and NHL’s minor league former player Matty Gaudreau, 29, were biking in Oldmans Township, Salem County, on Aug. 29 when they were fatally struck by a driver allegedly under the influence and attempting to pass two other vehicles on County Route 551.

The crash on a road that winds past farms and fields in an area where nearby warehouse development has attracted heavy truck traffic has triggered not only despair over the loss of two highly regarded men but calls for more safety initiatives in a region popular with cyclists.

Sean Higgins, 43, of Woodstown, was charged with two counts of death by auto and other offenses. Higgins told a New Jersey state trooper that he’d had up to six beers before the crash, according to the probable cause affidavit. He most recently worked as a financial director for treatment provider Gaudenzia.

In the wake of her family’s devastation, Katie Gaudreau and her fiancé, Devin Joyce, postponed their wedding.

In place of that joyful event came events of mourning, including a vigil Friday night at the brothers’ high school alma mater, Gloucester Catholic, in Gloucester City, and a viewing Sunday at D’Anjolell Memorial Homes in Broomall.

During its concert Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center, Pearl Jam dedicated “Given To Fly” to the Gaudreaus, with lead singer Eddie Vedder holding up Johnny’s jersey from Gloucester Catholic and Matty’s from the Reading Royals.

Their funeral will be held Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Media. The Mass will be live-streamed on the Columbus Blue Jackets’ official website at noon.

In a 13-photo Instagram tribute post after their deaths, Katie Gaudreau called Johnny and Matty “the absolute best big brothers a little girl could have asked for.”

Over the weekend, she appeared to endorse another’s observation of signs of the pair in the world around them.

“Double rainbow over the Linc tonight! I’d like to think this is a sign from Matty & John,” reads an Instagram story posted by a loved one and reposted by Katie Gaudreau on Saturday.

Said another she reposted: “A sign of new beginnings and new life.”

Johnny was the father of two young children, and Matty’s wife is expecting the couple’s first child, due in December.