Woman who died in accident west of Wichita lived by her faith, husband says

Jason Cotter wants his wife to be remembered for her faith.

Mendi Kathleen Cotter, 30, died Monday in an accident that was one of four along U.S. 54 in western Sedgwick County.

“I don’t have the words,” Jason wrote The Eagle. “She loved me, and I loved her. The kind of love you spend an entire life searching and waiting for. She led me away from sin and helped me take the steps towards goals in life I had given up on. My life changed because of her and will never be the same without her.”

Mendi Cotter, of Wichita, was the director of communications for St. Paul University Parish at Wichita State University.

The organization wrote on Facebook that Mendi, Jason and their children went to Mass that morning at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, then Mendi dropped her stepchildren off at school and was headed to drop off one of their vehicles in Cheney to be serviced. Then the accident happened.

“She is in heaven as she received Jesus this morning at Mass,” Father David Michael wrote in the post. “She had the Food for the Journey!”

Aaron Bell saw the accident. The 29-year-old Cheney man was stopped in the eastbound lane of the highway within a half-mile of the South 343rd Street West bridge, in traffic caused by the earlier accidents.

Then he heard the tires squeal.

In the rearview mirror, Bell saw a van swerve to miss his vehicle by a few feet, then go into the median and into the westbound lane.

“He tried to swerve back to the right but that’s when his van started to flip and he landed on top of the girl in the Ford (Escape),” Bell said, adding the Ford turned the van back upright.

Bell said he pulled onto the right shoulder and ran across the highway. He found the top of the Escape — Mendi’s car — crushed and peeled back.

When he found out who had died, he realized he worked summer camp at the Northwest YMCA with Jason Cotter. Bell said he wrote Jason that he was sorry and would pray for his family.

Five people went to area hospitals after the accident. One, a 36-year-old Pretty Prairie man who was driving the van, was listed in fair condition Thursday at Wesley Medical Center. Three had been discharged and the fifth was not listed at either Wesley or Via Christi.

Mendi, the youngest of six children, was a Big Sister through the Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters.

She volunteered for roughly the past five years, with the last two being a Big Sister to a now sixth-grader. KBBBS President Mary Shannon said Mendi was a consistent presence for the 11-year-old, visiting each week “which is not common.”

“She is a person who truly left a mark and a legacy that will not soon be forgotten,” Shannon said.

A rosary is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday and funeral for 10 a.m. Friday. Both will be St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 645 N. 119th St. West.

This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 12:57 PM.