Marian Thomas, a devotee who attended ISKCON’s Festival of Inspiration in New Vrindaban, West Virginia this May, has passed away due to injuries sustained after a car crash.

Marian had served at ISKCON Columbus and had recently moved to Athens, Ohio. She was returning to Athens from New Vrindaban following the Festival of Inspiration. According to the Chillicothe Gazette (Ohio), Marian was a back seat passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The car went off the side of Ohio 7, overcorrected, went off the road again and struck a concrete culvert. It then overturned and hit a utility pole.

Unresponsive at the scene, Marian was airlifted from a hospital in Marietta to the Grant Memorial in Columbus. In a twist of fate, ISKCON devotee Lalita Dasi was doing her residency at Grant and sat at Marian’s side in the trauma and operation centers. She also arranged for Marian to have an auspicious passing according to Vaishnava tradition by administering tulasi leaves and Radha Kunda water and chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra.

Marian’s parents agreed to have her cremated and allowed her fiancee Sri Kishore Dasa to bring her ashes to the holy land of Vrindavan, India.

Marian had served for several years at ISKCON Columbus, most recently as manager of the Food Pantry. She spent the final day of her life happily serving Krishna in the New Vrindaban kitchen along with three of her friends.