COLLISION VICTIMS' FAMILY STRUGGLING WITHOUT MOM NINE CHILDREN, FIVE GRANDCHILDREN SUFFER DEVASTATING LOSS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LITTLEROCK - Brenda Anderson had moved out of a Los Angeles apartment and into a Littlerock house earlier this year to give her nine children and five grandchildren more room.

But then a teen-age driver ran a stop sign last Thursday, authorities say, smashing into the family's minivan - killing Anderson and her 2-year-old daughter, and putting her boyfriend and 3-year-old daughter in the hospital.

``She had always said she wanted a house for all her kids and a big yard,'' Alma Anderson, Brenda's sister, said Monday. ``When she finally got everything she wanted ... then somebody takes that, snatches that all away. It's just hard to deal with.''

Alma Anderson has taken five of her sister's children and her five grandchildren into her Compton home. A 15-year-old is staying with a cousin but is expected to join her siblings.

Three-year-old Lanesha Anderson remains hospitalized with broken bones, internal injuries and burns from the crash.

Byron Hawkins, Brenda's boyfriend, who was driving the van, remains hospitalized with broken ribs and a badly broken arm.

Their youngest child, 10-month-old Dajusha Hawkins, who survived the crash with minor injuries, is with her father's mother.

``It's rough on us. We are trying to deal with all the kids,'' said Alma Anderson, who learned about her sister's death in a phone call from her father. ``We were very close.''

The surviving children - including Brenda's two grown daughters - are taking her death hard, their aunt said.

And 4-year-old Nolan can't understand that his mother is dead.

``He keeps saying, 'She's at the store and she'll be back,''' Alma Anderson said. ``He's not sleeping. He's trying to stay up most of the night and wait for her.''

The fatal crash occurred as Brenda Anderson, 39, and Byron Hawkins, 30, were driving with her three youngest children to Littlerock High School to pick up her daughter, Zamorria Fife, who was celebrating her 15th birthday.

As the minivan passed 105th Street East on Avenue R, it was hit by a Toyota Supra driven by a 17-year-old boy on his way to school, authorities said.

Campus security personnel were the first authorities to arrive to help the victims. Later, they found out that the injured family was that of one of their students and that they were coming to get her for her birthday.

Campus security official Dayna Martinez drove Zamorria home.

``She was just totally devastated,'' Martinez said.

The family's Littlerock landlord drove the children to Alma Anderson's home in Compton.

Littlerock High School staffers are collecting money, clothes and food for the family. The family doesn't have money to bury either Brenda Anderson or 2-year-old Brnay Hawkins.

High school workers say people can make monetary donations at any Washington Mutual bank. The fund for the family is called the LHS Benevolent Fund, Account No. 3931451095.

People can also bring cash, children's clothing or nonperishable food to the Littlerock High office, and leave it with Dayna Martinez or Alisha Garcia.

Services are expected to be at the Simpson Family Mortuary in Inglewood, but no date has been set. The bodies remain in the county morgue.

The California Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash, and prosecutors have not filed any charges against the teen-age driver, who was also injured in the crash.

``There are several different charges that could be filed,'' CHP Officer Scott Weldy said.