MARIETTA, Ga. — Robert Bolt remembers the time he was driving along a two-lane street, when his wife, Sarah, asked him to pull over.
"She saw a turtle on the road, and we pulled over, and she got out," he recalled. " She was stopping traffic on the other end just to help the turtle. She picked it up and moved it across the street."
Early Saturday morning Sarah did the same, for a driver who crashed along Interstate 75 South near the Delk Road exit.
Marietta Police Department said Sarah and another driver got out of their vehicles to help a driver who crashed into the median when another vehicle hit them.
One person was rushed to Grady Hospital with serious injuries and the other person, 38-year-old Bolt, was rushed to Grady with life-threatening injuries where she later died.
Sarah would have turned 39 on Oct. 4.
"Obviously, you have all of these thoughts running through my head and then I think about and I'm like - 'that's you. I understand,'" Robert said. "Whatever she was doing, she was always looking out for other people, not herself."
That's the legacy Sarah's mother, Lydia Roper, says she leaves behind: to be forgiving, selfless, and loving.
"I was really blessed to have her in my life and I was given the gift of raising her," Lydia said. "We're going to do our best to carry on, it's what she would want us to do. We're going to miss her every day."
Sarah's family says she loved art, loved to sign, and loved to binge-watch the show Friends. Her sister, Sydney Roper, says what she loved most was her family.
"She took every opportunity she could to really show that (she loved us) whether it was through gifts or just through some kind of meaningful conversation, that she was always going to be here. She was always going to fight for what she believed in," Sydney said.
It all started over the weekend around 12:45 a.m. when a Kia Sedona was traveling southbound on I-75 when the driver lost control of the car before swerving across all lanes and crashing into the median barrier, police said.
The driver then traveled across all lanes once again and hit the right-hand guardrail before coming to a rest while still partially blocking the far right-hand lane of I-75 South. Marietta Police said the Sedona was then hit by several other cars driving by.
As people were outside of the car helping the driver of the Sedona following the wreck, the driver of a Dodge Challenger who was traveling in the far right lane lost control of the car and struck two pedestrians who were near the Sedona, police said.
Sarah's dad, Rob, says she died a hero.
"The circumstances that took her away from us - it's evident, the idea that she would stop on a highway to help somebody that was in trouble. It's just part of who she was," he said. "We're going to miss her. We're all going to miss her terribly. She's just leaving a huge hole in our life."
Sarah graduated from Wheeler High School and was a Kennesaw State University graduate where she was a political science major. She was the oldest of eight siblings.
"We have a very close-knit family. Everybody takes care of each other, and as the oldest, she really helped us raise her younger brothers and sisters. She was just so wonderful. She's in so many ways the bright star of the family," her dad added.
Sarah and Robert welcomed their fifth child six months ago. Her family started a fundraiser to help put the five kids through school.
“Most of them are still in elementary school or middle school, and we're concerned about their education," her dad said. "We just think that if anybody can find it in their heart to reach out and support that the family and those children, making a contribution that would help their future would be a wonderful and selfless thing."
Selfless, just like Sarah.
That's one of many traits that drew Robert to Sarah when they met at a Halloween party in 2006.
"It didn't take me long to propose, and then just basically 18 years of bliss after that. I've been really fortunate to have such a wonderful woman in my life. I just give thanks I had those years," he said.
Marietta Police said 11Alive that investigators have completed vehicle examinations and initial interviews. They have follow-up interviews to do, and more evidence to review, before deciding if anyone will be cited or charged.
If you would like to donate to Sarah and Robert's children, click here.