The girl’s father, Giedrius Kaukas, shared a sensitive post on the social network “Facebook”.
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“Anastasija did not overtake the car, she was a good and careful driver and always avoided risky situations.
At that spot, the road was flat and visible, where it was impossible not to notice a large oncoming vehicle and jump in front of it. Unfortunately, we probably will never fully know what truly happened.
She had a dashcam in the front and back, but the police found a broken memory card in it, and it’s unclear if the recording can be recovered.
Wanting to be independent and responsible for her life, immediately after graduating from school and before starting her studies, she got a job at a gas station, where she also worked night shifts. That day, she was after a night shift, after an awards ceremony, having slept little. We tried to persuade her not to drive herself. She said she could never fall asleep during the day. And she fell asleep forever…
She was so good that even when fate unexpectedly led her to the opposite side of the road, she involuntarily chose such an oncoming car that she would not harm anyone, only herself.
However, we probably will never fully know everything.
In memoriam…
On a cold February night, Anastasija came to us. Tiny, fragile, incredibly beautiful. Her first rompers were bright pink, and pink remained her favorite color throughout her life.
We spent a long time choosing her name – for two weeks she was nameless, as all names seemed too simple. We only agreed on one name – Anastasija, but we hesitated for a long time because it seemed too long, complicated, not Lithuanian. In fact, it is Greek – meaning “resurrected”. And she herself later decided who she allowed to shorten her name and who she did not.
From an early age, she knew that she lived life the way she wanted. Persistence and independence came with her; she was born that way.
She was a duck mom. Ever since the birthday when her aunt Asta gave her her first polka-dotted duck. A white duck with green dots. From then on, her duck collection only grew; ducks rode in cars, swam, lived with her in her life’s games. We talked about how, when we had more time, we would actually raise ducks, and then she would be a real duck mom. We didn’t get the chance.
We raised her with Mozart’s music. We sang in Asta’s children’s studio.
She was not a brave child in an external sense. She didn’t necessarily go first on stage, didn’t necessarily dominate among children. But somehow quietly and imperceptibly, she became the best. Everywhere she herself saw meaning in being the best. And where only others saw that meaning – she didn’t care.
In the first grade at VGTU Engineering Lyceum, she had her very best soulmate – Justas. They were inseparable. But after the second grade, it was time for Justas to hang out with boys, and Anastasija was left without a friend. She didn’t fit in with the girls – she read books during breaks, at that time she read all of Harry Potter. After the 6th grade, by mutual agreement, we changed classes, and she found her best friends – Gerda, Kotryna, and Vaiva.
She attended many extracurricular activities – she started learning piano, danced for several years – took ballet lessons, Modus Dance. Dancing didn’t stick with her, but with Modus Dance, she danced victoriously on various stages.
She was very responsible from the very first grade. We never checked if she had done her homework. From the very first days, it was her independent task. And she continued like that until now, until the clocks stopped…
After 8 grades, she took entrance exams to Vilnius Lyceum and Žirmūnai Gymnasium. She didn’t get into the Lyceum then because she got stressed and performed poorly on the math exam. However, she got into Žirmūnai Gymnasium and studied there excellently for two years, participated in the Duke of Edinburgh program, because she constantly challenged herself – she went where it was difficult, where she needed to test herself, grow, push her limits, despite fears and uncertainty.
Courage is not about not being afraid; courage is about being afraid but doing it anyway. Anastasija demonstrated this throughout her life.
But she wanted to study at the Lyceum. So, after the 10th grade, she prepared and was admitted to the International Baccalaureate program at Vilnius Lyceum. She was admitted with the best scores of all – as number one. Did she boast about it in class – no, perhaps only after a year of studying did her classmates find out that she was the person who got in as number one.
It was important for her to have friends, but not just any friends – true ones, who befriended her not for popularity, but from the heart. At Žirmūnai Gymnasium, she found Smiltė, and at Vilnius Lyceum – Ūla, Marija, Dorotėja, Justina. She united friends from different schools. This was a wonderful friendship that she nurtured, always making sure to meet with friends, not to miss important conversations, to be together.
At home, she taught us all – to plan and implement. Studying in the Lyceum’s IB program is difficult; not everyone who gets in finishes it. You need to start everything on time to finish it. We knew what internals and EEs were, how to write interpretations; she would explain to us how the supply and demand curves interact, and we would discuss on a whiteboard how this affects retail prices. Economics was not her strongest competence – but it was economics that surprised us the most. We remember, on the day of the economics exam, mom stayed home from work, unplanned, but for some reason. Anastasija was preparing for the economics exam at 2 PM. Around nine o’clock, a friend called her – why wasn’t she at the exam? In immense stress, she rushed to the study room where mom was working. She dropped everything and got into the car to somehow make it to the exam. Halfway there, she cried, not understanding how she could have made such a mistake and confused the exam time. Can you imagine, she passed that exam with the highest grade – it was one of those five perfect scores on the matriculation exams. She later recounted that her economics teacher told her at graduation that perhaps they hadn’t fully appreciated her, as they hadn’t expected such good exam results from her.
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She knew how to concentrate incredibly, mobilize herself, and somehow imperceptibly, but do everything best.
Mathematics, chemistry, biology – we had no doubts about these subjects, neither we nor she.
How did she find chemistry? One of the main questions she had been solving since the 8th grade was – what would she study, what would she do in life? What would be that meaning and that goal? At Žirmūnai Gymnasium, her chemistry teacher suggested she apply and study at Vilnius University’s chemistry school “Pažinimas” – a chemistry school for students, but already in a university style. She graduated with honors. When we talked about whether it was worth her enrolling there – we said – if you don’t try, you won’t know. We agreed that it would be a test – whether she liked chemistry. And if she liked it, she would know exactly where to study after school. And so it was – she liked chemistry, laboratories, burettes, fume hoods, research, and results. And so chemistry remained – her decision for studies.
France was important in her life. A dream country. She learned French as a second foreign language, but even at the beginning, she made an extra effort – she learned through DuoLingo. She came up with this herself, without our intervention or encouragement. Her first love was born from the French language; she learned French, he – English, and DuoLingo brought them together. They communicated a lot remotely, and then we all went to Paris, where they met at Disneyland and spent a fantastic day in the magic park.
She had many dreams – not even dreams, but plans for her life and France. Her goal was to study in France. And she did it – she was admitted to the University of Strasbourg’s chemistry program, and also to the University of Geneva, but she chose Strasbourg. With the magically beautiful French language. In just a month, we were supposed to leave and take her to Strasbourg, where she would have started her French phase of life. She left, but not for Strasbourg…
Her first dream was to have a bakery in France. Desserts – her magic. She wrote – “Baking is the therapy you can eat”. For many years, we haven’t bought desserts – she spoiled us with her creations. Her passion for chocolate even became a family joke… The last cake she baked for us was zucchini. We grated so much zucchini that it was too much for one cake. She said she baked two different ones. We expected one light, the other – chocolate. But it turned out they were both chocolate, with chocolate chips, and differed only in that one of them was also covered with chocolate on top…
She published her dessert creations on Instagram under the name SucretteBakery. In French, Sucrette means sugar. She didn’t aim to become an influencer, but she shared her baking stories, recipes, and tips. The first years were not very successful in terms of views – but she didn’t stop, she looked for how to film, how to voice over, where the camera should stand, how fast the frames should change. She experimented, and her last videos were already successful – she persistently grew her audience, and she succeeded. This account is on Instagram – and will be forever.
Her other passion was photography. She did photoshoots, almost always carried a camera with her, looked for strong shots – an interesting angle, photographed nature, her dog, cats, herself, friends, cities; on trips, she was our family photographer and made videos after trips. She left behind many beautiful artistic photos – about life, which is beautiful and colorful.
She was strong. Very strong. She didn’t argue with anyone – she simply had her own opinion and stubbornly stuck to it. She had plans – and she would mark on a board in her room what she planned to do, when, and mark the things she had done.
She had planned her life in Strasbourg down to the smallest detail. She herself found all possible living places, applied, chose responsibly, found out everything about the healthcare system herself, organized all the necessary documents. We were only there when she needed advice. Through Google Maps, she walked all over Strasbourg, found all the routes from her future home to the university. The streets of Strasbourg will now hold her memory.
This summer, she worked at a Circle K gas station. From a newcomer, she quickly became the best. She was very proud when she was already training newcomers during her shift and was responsible for everyone’s work. As everywhere – quietly and imperceptibly, she became the best.
She wanted to be independent. She invested her money. She had growth, she knew what she was doing and what she wanted to achieve. She wrote books – fantasy style, stories with complex plots. She ran out of time to finish. She also drew – mostly ducks.
Anastasija wonderfully combined creativity and perseverance. For our family business, we came up with the idea of making pins – lapel pins. Anastasija took on this task herself – she created the design of a rowan branch, the packaging, found someone who could manufacture them, and ordered production. We still have them now, but on that journey home, she was without this pin. The rowan was powerless to protect her this time…
Anastasija was good quietly. Without show and loud recognition. She lived in such a way that she imperceptibly became the best. The best friend. The best student. The best person.
She departs on such beautiful and peaceful summer days.
The farewell ceremony will be on Tuesday, July 28, 10:00-12:00, at Vilnius Funeral Home (Olandų g. 22), Hall 6.
“Let’s gather and escort her to her dream country through a pink sea of flowers,” the father of the deceased girl wrote emotionally on “Facebook”.
Žmonės.lt reminds that on July 23, at about 2:58 PM, emergency services were called to an accident in Vilnius district, Ažulaukė village, on the road towards Nemenčinė. Three vehicles collided there.
Firefighters’ assistance was needed for a woman driving a BMW. She was conscious, but due to damage to the car body and injuries sustained, she could not get out. Firefighters freed her and handed her over to paramedics. As it later turned out, the woman injured in the accident did not survive. The girl, born in 2007, who was driving the BMW, died in the ambulance.
Upon the arrival of rescuers, it became clear that not two vehicles were involved in the accident, as initially reported, but three. A BMW, a FORD, and a truck collided.
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