Updated
February 20, 2011 URL is http://our.tentativetimes.net/city/blair.html
Coach
Willie Blair killed in car-train crash
Funeral for
William S. Blair, age 36, at 2:00 Saturday, March 13, 1999 at Goodwin Memorial
Chapel. Memorials to the family, please.
Willie Blair and his wife
Sarah were hit by a train at the Ash Road crossing on Hoosier Highway, just
south of Bluffton, near Travisville at 6:10 in the
evening on March 9.
Willie did not survive the
crash. Sarah is in Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sarah needed the
Good Samaritan Helicopter but it couldn't fly because of the weather. She was
taken by ambulance. She is in critical condition in intensive care with severe
head injuries, broken ribs, a bruised lung, a possible spinal injury and a
broken ankle and possibly other injuries, we learn from the Bluffton
News-Banner.
Willie Blair had been in a
wheelchair since he was in a crash at the age of 18, when he was an
up-and-coming boxer. Nevertheless, he became head coach of the Wells County
Boxing Team and coach for a team in the Wells County Teen Baseball League. He
and wife Sarah King Blair were foster parents. If you have memories of Willie,
please send a letter to the family. Their address is 0221 West, 900 South, Keystone IN 46759.
The Blair's son Jeff Blair is
a star athlete at Southern Wells High School. He is a senior this year.
Emphasizing sportsmanship and true boxing skill, Willie Blair started his son
Jeff on an amateur career to the highest levels ever attained by a Wells County
boxer, a Golden Gloves championship. Jeff won numerous other boxing titles.
Jeff is currently a basketball and baseball star at Southern Wells, regarded as
a Major League baseball prospect from his performance at baseball camps. He is
considered a U.S. prospect for the coming Olympics.
Weeks later: I called Judy's
house for an update. A relative said Sarah is recovered and runs her own
day-care business! Her father has passed but her mother is still at the
Sunrise Way address. Sarah can drive a car and has made a remarkable
recovery. Thanks to all who contacted her with their cards and prayers.
Older news: April 1, 1999:
Sarah Blair has improved enough to be released to the home of her
sister-in-law. You can send her a card at:
Sarah Blair
c/o Judy Sonnigsen
0634 East St Rd 124
Bluffton IN 46714
Sarah is only 37 years old. I
hope that will help her recover, to be that young. Son Jeff reports that his
mom is able to walk, talk and eat normally, although her back, legs and neck
feel a little weak.
Jeff especially noted in the
Bluffton News-Banner that the family appreciates all your prayers and
encouragement.
Previous
Update Lutheran
Hospital reports that Sarah Blair's condition has now been upgraded to
"serious but stable" with no other details given.
Previous Update: Sarah Blair's condition is now
"critical but stable" which is an upgrade. There are no other details
to report.
A
little editorial here
There was a news story this
past week about a student driving to Ball State University. While she was
stopped at a crossing, her car was hit from behind by a pickup truck. It was
slammed forward and caught under a train and dragged four miles. As she was
dragged down the tracks, this student was able to get to her cellular phone and
call her mother for help, and call 911, although she was almost scared to
death. She couldn't believe that they could hear her over the noise of the car
metal tearing apart. Two boys from her former high school were nearby and also
were aware of the accident and went for help.
The problem of train
crossings seems to be getting much worse here in northeastern Indiana; we must
all take extra care. Don't even stop your car real close to those tracks. Don't
use tracks as a shortcut or playground. I've lost two people I know from
pedestrian-train accidents, one of them my uncle, one a child whose mom I drove
to the hospital as the daughter was being born. Trains no longer hold any
romance for me.
However, we do have news of another Wells
County death involving organ donation. Please read about Tony Sills below,
on this page.
Tony Sills Killed
in Hit-and-Run
Everyone in Wells County was
watching the NBAA basketball tournament on Thursday, March 11, 1999. One
spectator watching with friends in Liberty center was Tony Sills of Bluffton.
Tony, age 22, enjoyed walking, so he headed back to Bluffton on foot after
dark. About half a mile up 300 West, near Councilman Peter Cole's home, a car
came up behind him and smashed into him. It drove off.
Tony was dressed in jeans and
a black jacket. It had reflective tape on it, his sister told me. He was three
to four feet out from the edge of the road, walking in the road to stay out of
the slush and snow. I don't know how long Tony lay injured in the roadway
before he was discovered. The 911 call came in at 7:29 p.m. Residents reported
seeing a vehicle going at a good clip eastward on the road about the time of
the accident. There was part of a Dodge Ram truck grill by the victim.
Tony was airlifted to Fort
Wayne where his injuries appeared obviously too serious for his life to
continue. He died Friday morning (March 12) in Parkview hospital. He family, in the utmost expression of caring and generosity,
wanted to donate all his organs and body parts to the organ donor
organizations. To me, this exemplifies our Wells County spirit of helping one
another.
Update:
Unfortunately, because of the length of time after his death, the hospital was
unable to make the organs available for transplant. I was told this about
a year after the tragedy.
Around 7:30 p.m., Brent
Huffman, age 34, came to the Sheriff's department. Brent Huffman too had been
watching basketball with (a different set of friends from Tony's) friends in
Liberty center, sharing good times, snacks and beer. He reported that he had
been bent over retrieving a pack of cigarettes he had dropped on the truck
floor. He thought he had hit a mailbox at the same location where Tony was
discovered. The Bluffton News-Banner
had an editorial commending Brent for coming in. (But I think of course he
would have been easily traced from the grill of his truck.) And he did come in
while his blood alcohol reading was testable. He is charged with 3 Class C
felonies. Judge Hanselman set bond at $30,000 and
declined the appeal to reduce it to $5,000. (The bond was later reduced.) Jury
trial is set for January 10, 2000. The court will not accept any plea agreement
after July 15, 1999.
The obituary in the Bluffton
News-Banner noted that Tony Joe Sills, age 22, was born in Huntington County,
son of David L. Sills of Bluffton and Beulah Blocker Sills now of
Jeffersonville, Ohio. He is a 1995 graduate of Bluffton High School where he
was active in wrestling and football, and played roller hockey at the former
Roush Park during the summer.
Tony had been employed at MacDonalds in Fort Wayne and at Peyton's Northern
Distribution center in Bluffton. Survivors include his parents, two brothers,
Terry and Tim, a sister Tonya, and his grandparents Edwin C. and Rose Rohde of
Bluffton.
The calling hours were held
at Thoma, Rich and Chaney Funeral Home. Funeral
services were held Tuesday, March 16 at Sonlight
Wesleyan Church in Bluffton with the Reverend Stan Hoover officiating.
Memorials
to the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization, please. Tony's family wanted to donate his
organs because they knew he would have wanted them to, in the hope that someone
else would be helped.
You are
encouraged to bookmark this page
Links Out
Lydia
Murray
received second liver transplant
Southern Wells
Alumni page
The index of Nostalgia,
pages about Bluffton
Music links
The Opine magazine
with columns, free graphics, etc.
Here's Otto's cover. Otto is short
for Our Tentative Times, the parent of this family of magazines.
Send all additions and
corrections for Our Tentative Times to me, Sandra Weinhardt, at editor@tentativetimes.net