Swerve may have spared children

Keli Krensing's three young daughters were packed in the back of their minivan, along with a bunch of Christmas gifts. They'd driven 70 miles from their home in Fergus Falls. They had 15 miles to go before a Christmas Eve reunion with grandparents, siblings and cousins in Park Rapids.

It was 5:30 p.m. Thursday and getting darker. That's when Krensing noticed another minivan cross the center line on an icy curve of Hwy. 34 in Becker County. She tried to swerve and avoid a head-on collision, but the other van struck the right side of her van, killing her husband, 34-year-old Robert Krensing, who was riding in the passenger seat.

While Keli blamed herself Friday for her husband's death, friends and relatives insisted that her quick reactions are likely to have saved the lives of the three little girls in the back seat: Allison, 11, Kaitlyn, 7, and Myia, 3.

"I guess I have to believe that, because I only lost one and I could have lost five," said Helen Griess, Keli's mother and the girls' grandmother. "The unfortunate thing is he was in the part of the vehicle that took the worst of the blow."

Robert Krensing's death was the state's second weather-related traffic fatality reported since a series of storms began earlier this week. Keli, 34, suffered a swollen hand and bruises to her legs, while her three daughters also escaped with only minor injuries. The driver of the other minivan, 67-year-old Donald A. Larson of Detroit Lakes, was unhurt.

Victim was auto mechanic

"She definitely saved her kids' lives," said Kim Neuleib, the owner of the ExSalonce salon in Fergus Falls. She has worked with Keri for more than a decade and spoke with her Friday. "She's blaming herself and saying, 'Why couldn't I have missed the car?"'

"She said she wanted to get the van loaded up so they could head out when Robert got off work," Neuleib said.

Robert Krensing worked as an auto mechanic in Fergus Falls and had two passions: restoring old Chryslers and spending time with his family.

"His daughters and his wife were his life," Griess said. "He did everything for them."

On Riverside Drive north of Fergus Falls, neighbors cleared the Krensings' driveway Friday and mourned Robert.

'"He was a great family man and a well-loved guy, and it's a horrible, horrible thing," said Kristi Lausch, who lives nearby. "We're going to do the best we can to rally around them and help her any way we can. She's going to have a rough road ahead with three little kids."

"It's a really treacherous two-lane road," Lausch said. "It's not very wide with a lot of curves."