Steamboat Pilot & Today

A Steamboat Springs woman died Sunday from injuries sustained in a car crash north of Silverthorne.

Jennifer Buttery, 27, was riding in a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by her husband, 26-year-old Aaron Buttery, when the Jeep lost traction in snowy conditions on Colorado Highway 9. The car spun into oncoming, southbound traffic, according to a Colorado State Patrol report.

Laura Spero of Bailey, 41, was driving a Dodge Ram and attempted to avoid the Jeep but struck the driver's side of the vehicle. Jennifer Buttery died of lacerations at the scene.

The accident occurred about 25 miles north of Silverthorne, the State Patrol reported.

Aaron Buttery and the couple's 1-year-old son, Isaac, were transported to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco.

Laura Spero and Michael Spero, 41, of Bailey, a passenger in the Dodge, also were taken to St. Anthony Summit.

Aaron Buttery is the Youth Minister at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Steamboat. He was transferred Sunday night from the Frisco hospital to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver for treatment of serious injuries. A nurse at the hospital reported his condition as "fair" Monday afternoon, and said he had been seeing visitors throughout the day.

Betty Ralston, a deacon at St. Paul's, said Monday that Isaac is doing "fine." The State Patrol's report said Isaac did not sustain injuries in the accident and described injuries sustained by Laura and Michael Spero as "moderate."

Aaron, Isaac and Jennifer Buttery moved to Steamboat in the summer. In a St. Paul's newsletter announcing Aaron's arrival at the church, Father David Henderson wrote that Jennifer had just graduated from law school at the University of Tennessee. Aaron began his ministry June 6.

Steamboat resident Jim Winter, a member of the St. Paul's church, said it did not take long for the Buttery family to put down roots.

"Within a month, they knew most of the congregation, and everybody felt like they had always been there," Winter said Monday. "Aaron and Isaac will get phenomenal support."

Ralston said Jennifer But-tery's death will be deeply felt at St. Paul's.

"She was a very warm, sweet young woman who was devoted to her husband and her little baby, and to the other people in the church," Ralston said. "She was a special person. We all loved her, and we're going to miss her."