Woman killed in head-on crash near Mendocino Coast identified

Authorities and family identified the woman killed in a head-on crash Saturday near the Mendocino Coast as 63-year-old Patricia “Sis” Jelen of Albion.

Jelen died just before 4 p.m. Saturday on Albion Ridge Road west of Road H, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday.

She was one of four people riding in a 2020 Honda Accord when a man driving east in a 2010 Toyota Rav4 crossed “for unknown reasons” over solid double yellow lines into the westbound lane and crashed head-on into them, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release.

Jelen’s son, Thomas Jeleniewicz, his fiance and Jelen’s partner were the other occupants of the car at the time of the crash, Jeleniewicz told The Press Democrat.

“She was a very strong, driven person,” Jeleniewicz said of his mother. “I know people are going to miss her. I miss her. It’s just a really big hole in the world for Albion, for Elk, for the people of the coast, for my family.”

Born in Contra Costa County, Jelen went by “Sis,” had a “passion (that) burned like a wildfire or was the calm in the storm” and helped run Queenies Roadhouse Cafe alongside a friend, Jeleniewicz wrote in a Facebook post the day after the crash.

Jeleniewicz and his fiance were visiting from Contra Costa County, and the four were on their way to dinner when the crash occurred, he said.

Jelen’s partner was still in the hospital Tuesday for her injuries, according to Jeleniewicz.

The man driving the Toyota, a 24-year-old Albion resident, had minor injuries and was not taken to a hospital, the CHP said.

The CHP was still investigating the circumstances of the crash Tuesday afternoon and had no additional updates, a spokesperson said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.