Hart family crash: Celebration of life planned in South Dakota

Updated June 27: A relative of Jennifer Hart said the event has been cancelled.

A celebration of life is planned in South Dakota for the Oregon family that died earlier this year in a crash off the California coastline.

The memorial service will be held for the Hart family at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 30, in Huron, South Dakota, Jennifer Hart's hometown, according to The Plainsman.

The announcement ran in the print paper today and included a photograph of Jennifer Hart and her wife, Sarah, smiling with their six children, Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Jeremiah, Abigail and Sierra.

The entire family is dead or presumed to be after Jennifer Hart drove their SUV off a cliff along the Northern California coast in March. Investigators have described the crash as intentional.

The family gained international attention in 2014 when Devonte Hart was pictured tearfully hugging a Portland police officer in a photograph that went viral. He was attending a Portland demonstration to protest the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Authorities have not found Devonte, 15, or his sister Hannah, 16, during their searches of the coastline following the March 26 crash. A passer-by discovered the wreckage off Highway 1 near Westport, California, in Mendocino County.

The family of eight had traveled to California from their home in Woodland, Washington. They previously lived in West Linn.

Jennifer Hart portrayed the family's life on social media as idyllic -- an image that contrasted with the red flags and child abuse allegations that consistently followed the family as they moved from Minnesota to Oregon to Washington.

Both Jennifer and Sarah Hart were originally from South Dakota. Sarah Hart was from Big Stone City, and the two met in college.

Jennifer Hart grew up in Huron, a town of 13,000 in eastern South Dakota, with her parents and two brothers. A reader sent The Oregonian/OregonLive the announcement about the memorial service from the newspaper.

The announcement says all are welcome to attend.

-- Rebecca Woolington

503-294-4049; @rwoolington

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