Darien, Downers Grove Women Die In Crash

DARIEN, IL – Darien police on Tuesday identified the two women who died in last week's crash in town.

They were Barbara Miller, 81, of Downers Grove, and Catherine Santogrossi, 80, of Darien, police said.

About 10 a.m. Friday, a silver sedan driven by Miller was traveling west on Plainfield Road turning south onto Clarendon Hills Road, police said. A gray minivan heading east on Plainfield struck the passenger side of the sedan, police said. Santogrossi was identified as a passenger in the minivan.

Patch could find no information online about Santogrossi's life.

According to an obituary, Miller enjoyed traveling to new places, trying new foods and riding her motorcycle.

"When she turned 80, she began a habit of trying to do one new thing a day," the obituary said. "Barbara Jo’s ongoing presence, kindness, and her loving ways will be greatly missed by many dear relatives and friends. Barbara Jo, in the words of her daughter, loved with 'an unconditional, hard kind of love that made you know how much she cared.'"