The 33-year-old mother killed in a hit-and-run crash as she left church with her family on New Year’s Eve in New Bedford is being remembered for her devotion to her three children, husband and her faith.
Nicolasa Ventura Colaj, 33, of New Bedford, died on Jan. 1 after she was struck by an SUV as she left a church gathering with her family on Acushnet Avenue, minutes after the service ended. The driver, believed to be a 16-year-old from Dartmouth, fled the scene and was arrested on Jan. 3, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
Ventura Colaj was born in Guatemala and immigrated to the United States seven years ago and made her life in New Bedford as a “devoted homemaker … centered on her family, faith and home,” according to her obituary…