Meredith Gaudreau is celebrating her son Carter’s first birthday while also remembering her late husband, Johnny Gaudreau.
Meredith took to Instagram on Wednesday, April 1 to share a bevy of posts showing Carter at his happiest.
“I wish you would stay small forever,” family friend Brynn Leighty wrote over a trio of images of Carter, which Meredith shared. “You bring us so much joy. I love you Mr. Carter Michael.”
On the next slide, Meredith shared a post from Leighty showing Carter in a photo on top, with one of Johnny on the ice below.
“Twins,” she wrote.
Meredith also shared a message from her sister-in-law, Madeline Gaudreau, who wrote, “Happy birthday Carter!!! Feels like you were just this small yesterday! I loveeee you big.” Madeline was married to Matthew, Johnny’s brother.
Johnny and Matthew were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes in New Jersey in August 2024. They were 31 and 29 years old, respectively. The driver, Sean Higgins, faces six charges, including aggravated manslaughter and reckless vehicular homicide, in connection with the incident.
Johnny and Matthew were in New Jersey to celebrate their sister Katie Gaudreau’s wedding. She was set to get married the next day, but the tragedy forced her and her husband, Devin Joyce, to postpone the ceremony for almost a year. They eventually tied the knot in July 2025.
At the time of the accident, Johnny and Meredith shared daughter, Noa, now 3, and son, Johnny Jr., now 2. Carter was born seven months later. (Madeline welcomed her and Matthew’s only child, Tripp, that December.)
“Happy 1st Birthday Carter! We love you,” Katie added in an Instagram post of her own, which Meredith also shared.
In the nearly two years since Johnny and Matthew’s deaths, Meredith and Madeline have taken every opportunity they could to remember their husbands, frequently sharing tributes via social media.
In March, Meredith opened up about her grief, looking back on the moment she learned Johnny had died in an interview with Kylie Kelce on her “Not Gonna Lie” podcast.
“I was at my parents’ house and just got a call, like, ‘Come over.’ I didn’t know at all what happened,” she recalled. “When I got there, though, there [were] a lot of cop cars out front and it was starting to rain.”
She continued, “I was making all these phone calls because John didn’t have his phone on him. He left his phone at his parents’ house. So I was like, ‘I have no clue what’s going on.’”
“And just hit me like a ton of bricks,” Meredith concluded. “I remember being like, ‘This can’t be real.’”
