6/16/1942 - 12/10/1972
Jay County residents killed by train near Portland
Five persons
were killed in two car-train accidents at unguarded crossings along the same
tracks of the Norfolk & Western Railway within two hours of each other
Sunday evening in Jay and Delaware Counties.
The deaths, including
four in the Jay County accident, helped push the 1972 traffic death toll to
at least 1,461 compared with 1,513 a year ago.
At least 14 persons were
killed in weekend traffic deaths. Icy roads were blamed in most of the
deaths.
Former Jay County Auditor Richard Runkle, 40,of Portland; his
wife, Margaret, 30; his brother, Robert, 33, also Portland, and Robert’s
wife, Brenda, 24, were killed in Jay County shortly after sundown Sunday.
Police said Robert Runkle was driving his car on an icy county road and
showed no signs of trying to stop before driving onto the railroad tracks at
Brice. They said stropping would have been difficult because of road
conditions and the car might have slid onto the tracks had he braked.
The
Runkles were hit by a 96-car freight train with four engines, traveling west
at about 40 miles per hour. It was knocked about 100 feet down the tracks,
where it was hit again and dragged for about 300 feet before the train could
be stopped.
The crossing is marked only with a cross-bar.
There
was some confusion about the Delaware County car-train fatality, also
involving a west-bound Norfolk & Western train. State police originally
received a report that the accident was a fatality, but doctors were able to
revive Larry H. Gibbens, 32, Muncie. He was taken to Ball Memorial Hospital,
but died about two hours later of head and chest injuries.
Gibbens
was struck at an unguarded crossing across a Delaware County road about a
mile west of Muncie. The tracks are marked only with a cross-bar there also.
Terry E. Leary, 19, and Evani Garrison, 17, both of Indianapolis, were
killed when a car driven by Joseph A. Collier, 17, Indianapolis, Saturday
night skidded on ice at the interchange of Interstates 69 and 465, crossed a
median and collided with an eastbound car, according to Marion County
authorities.
Janet Deem, 19, Danville, was killed when a car skidded on
an I-74 bridge about three miles west of Speedway and collided with another
Saturday night. She was riding with her husband, Jack, who was hospitalized,
along with John D. Haun, 35, Liston, driver of the other car.
Earl Parks,
79, Flora, was killed in a two-car accident on slick Indiana 18 west of
Flora in Carroll County Saturday.
Larry M. Catron, 33, Lafayette, was
killed in a pre-dawn accident Sunday at eh East edge of Lafayette when his
car hit a utility pole.
A two-car accident on slippery U.S. 40 west
of Glenn in Vigo County Saturday killed Cathy Liveoak, 19, and her brother,
Larry, 8.
Larry L. Prentice 30, Hudson, was killed early Saturday in a
two-car wreck on icy U. S. 20 east of LaGrange.
Decatur Daily Democrat, Adams County, IN , Monday, Dec. 11,
1972
Contributed by Karin King
Buried in Green Park Cemetery