The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Carthage, Jasper County

Discussion

July 1, 2009

Carthage High School alumna among those killed in pileup

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Cynthia Baker Olson, a 1971 graduate of Carthage High School, was among those killed last Friday when a tractor-trailer slammed into a line of vehicles on Oklahoma’s Will Rogers Turnpike, killing 10 people.

Also killed were Olson’s daughter, Shelby Hayes, 35; her 7-year-old grandson, Ethan Hayes; and her son-in-law, Scott Hayes, 38, all of Frisco, Texas. The crash ended three generations of one family.

Local friends of Olson, 55, who lived in Crossroads, Texas, were shocked and saddened to learn this week of her death.

Cobb Young, a Joplin attorney, said: “We were high-school classmates at Carthage. We all graduated together in the class of 1971. She was a lovely person inside and out.

“She moved to Texas, but she would come back for our class reunions. If you were to talk to any of her classmates, they would all say the same thing. She was a lovely person.”

Olson, who was widowed, and her daughter’s family were traveling from Texas to Sarcoxie to attend the funeral on Saturday of Olson’s grandfather, Glen Levi Wooten, of Sarcoxie.

Tammy Grimm, of Sarcoxie, also a granddaughter of Wooten, said: “They were coming here for the funeral when the accident happened. She was attending her 102-year-old grandfather’s funeral. She was close to her grandfather.

“It has been difficult trying to bury your grandfather and have that in the back of your mind. She lost her only daughter and only grandson. Her son-in-law was an only child, too. We didn’t want this tragedy on top of that (the death of her grandfather).”

Services for Olson are pending with Housh-Goodwin Funeral Home in Sarcoxie, according to Alisha Harrison, manager of the funeral home. The body is to be cremated. Harrison said the ashes are to be spread on Olson’s mother’s grave in Sarcoxie.

Olson held a real-estate broker’s license, working for ExcellerateHRO in Plano, Texas.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is investigating the crash for possible criminal charges, which is routine after a fatality. The patrol has said it did not appear that the driver of the truck, Donald Creed, 76, of the Willard-Ash Grove area, tried to stop his tractor-trailer. An initial report said Creed’s vehicle was traveling at an unsafe speed for traffic conditions.

Authorities have said eastbound traffic on the turnpike, near the Oklahoma-Missouri border, was at a standstill because of an earlier minor accident.

Also killed were four members of a family from Oklahoma City, Okla., and a couple from Phoenix, Ariz. The couple’s 12-year-old daughter remains at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. She was transferred there from St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin.

Bridget Ann Serchak, a public affairs officer with the National Transportation Safety Board, on Wednesday said seven investigators with the agency were to arrive at the site this week. Each will have different responsibilities. It is likely that the team will stay in the area through Monday, collecting data and documenting various aspects of the accident, she said.

The investigators will work with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority and highway engineers looking at roadway design plans, profiles and accident statistics; will document the tractor-trailer and some of the passenger vehicles involved; will examine other vehicles from the accident; will examine human performance; and will document company and driver records.

Serchak said investigators want to interview Creed, but that those plans have not been confirmed. Creed was driving a truck for Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers.

Missouri authorities have said Creed had a clean driving record, and that his commercial driver license was renewed in April. He initially obtained the license in 1991.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.





Patrol: Brakes OK



The Oklahoma Highway Patrol on Tuesday said it found no problems with the brakes on the tractor-trailer involved in the multiple-vehicle accident. Capt. Craig Medcalf, who leads the patrol’s motor carrier division, said the assessment was based on an examination of the rig’s brake pads, which he said appeared to be in good condition. Medcalf said the tractor was a 2009 model and the trailer was a 2008 model.

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