MEDINA - A year has not eased Jane Kovacic's pain.

        The death of her husband, son and three friends, all killed in an antique steam tractor explosion at the Medina County Fairgrounds, is fresh in her memory.

        “I have not even been able to drive past the fairgrounds, let alone go inside,” she told the Akron Beacon Journal for a story Sunday. “I'm just not capable of that.”

        The explosion happened about 6:30 p.m. last July 29 as Mrs. Kovacic's husband Cliff, 48, her son Billy, 27, and three others moved the hulking tractor into place for the start of the county fair the next day.

        The force of the blast tossed the nearly 33,000-pound tractor 15 feet into the air, creating a 1-foot crater in the ground below.

        The Kovacics and Alan Kimble, 46, were killed instantly. Dennis Jungbluth, 58, died that night. Brian Hammond, 18, died six days later.

        Flying debris and scalding hot water injured nearly 50 others including Jane Kovacic and her daughter, Liz.

        Mrs. Kovacic said she doesn't remember the explosion. Her first memories are of learning of her husband and son's deaths while she was being treated for burned ankles and feet at a hospital.

        “I didn't think he was even there,” she said of her son.

        Visiting the county fairgrounds the day before the fair opens is a tradition in Medina County. There are farmers delivering produce to be judged, bakers dropping off pies to be tasted and youngsters dragging in farm animals for show.

        This year, a somber remembrance is planned.

        Volunteers are creating a garden where the tractor exploded. It will be dedicated at 6:20 p.m. Sunday as a permanent memorial to the dead and injured.

        “This is part of all our memories. It's always there,” said Fair Board President Dave Bertram.

        Gov. Bob Taft is scheduled this week to sign a bill that would set licensing and inspection requirements for operators of antique steam boilers.

        Several lawsuits are pending in the explosion, including one from Mr. Hammond's estate that seeks $10 million or more from the excavating company owned by Cliff Kovacic and the county fair board.

        In November, Jane Kovacic filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Michigan man she said inspected the tractor for potential defects.

        She said she just tries to get through each day as best she can. It helps that her son Charles and his wife just had a child - her first grandchild, Clifford Fabian Kovacic II.

        “I'm not really angry,” she said, wiping away a tear. “I just miss them a lot.”

        She wears her husband's wedding ring on a chain with a heart pendant around her neck. The heart and chain were his last gifts to her. “I think we were as much in love the day he died as the first day we met,” she said.

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