Victim in Delafield I-94 crash is remembered as a good Samaritan who often helped motorists

When Peter Enns of Canada stopped Saturday night to help a couple whose minivan had a flat tire on eastbound I-94 near Delafield, he was fulfilling the words he often told his family and friends.

"We can’t change the entire world, but we can change the part of it that we interact with," Enns used to say. "Let’s change it for the better."

Enns was killed in a horrific crash that led to criminal charges filed against Frank C. Schiller, 37, of Oconomowoc. Schiller faces 10 felonies, including homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle.

Enns, 48, was a married father of three who lived in Duchess, Alberta, a village of around 1,000 people.

For the past five years, his job was to haul recreational vehicles from the South Bend, Ind., area to the Calgary, Alberta, region. He was headed to South Bend at the time of the crash, his family said.

His family said he had a "real passion for helping people in need."

In a statement, the family said Enns was a man of deep Christian faith and they offered prayers "to everyone else affected by the accident," and thanks to emergency personnel.

"Our prayers also go out to Frank Schiller," the family said. "What he did was a terrible thing, but in the same way that Jesus forgave the people who nailed him to a cross, we choose to forgive Frank for what he did and know that Peter would have done the same.

"It is our hope that he can find the Lord and become free of drugs and alcohol. We also hope that this will remind people of the dangers of alcohol and drugs and encourage them to stay away from both."

Enns was born in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico, and never forgot his roots of growing up in poverty. When he was 18, the family moved to southwestern Ontario, where he met his wife, Anna.

In addition to his wife, Enns is survived by his sons, Riky, 22, and Jeffery, 19, and daughter Tracy, 14.

Over the years, Enns and his family made a few trips to Juárez, Mexico, to help at a local mission.

When he saw people who had car trouble on the road, Enns frequently stopped to give a helping hand.

"Often times, there are people who don’t have the right tools to change a flat tire, or their spare may also be under-inflated, and he had more tools in his truck, so he could often help people out," the family said.

Enns would share his religious motivations with the people he stopped to help.

"We are happy to see that he will be remembered by the world as a good Samaritan, and it would make him happy as well," the family said. "We look forward to seeing him again in heaven."

The Enns family released a statement Friday and asked that it be published in its entirety:

Peter Enns was a great man and a loving husband and father to us. For the latter part of his life, it was his Christian faith that drove him to be the best possible person he could be. He told us that we should always live our lives in such a way that if we died that we’d be ready. While his death causes us pain that we would never wish upon anyone, we loved each other and we know that he was ready to meet Jesus in heaven.

Our prayers go out to everyone else affected by the accident and we would also like to thank those who responded to the accident as well as the doctors who tried to save him. Our prayers also go out to Frank Schiller. What he did was a terrible thing, but in the same way that Jesus forgave the people who nailed him to a cross, we choose to forgive Frank for what he did and know that Peter would have done the same. It is our hope that he can find the Lord and become free of drugs and alcohol. We also hope that this will remind people of the dangers of alcohol and drugs and encourage them to stay away from both.

We will miss Peter greatly, nothing will ever replace spending time with him. He was always there for us, whenever we needed advice or a hand, he was happy to help. We are happy to see that he will be remembered by the world as a good Samaritan, and it would make him happy as well. We look forward to seeing him again in heaven.