Notes for: Emily Jane Bodine

Emily died in a car accident on August 8, 1998. The details of the accident are not very clear. Emily and her granddaughter, Stormy, left their house on Stringtown Road in Central City on Saterday evening headed for town. The accident happened at a church just a short distance from Emily's house. The car was coming out of a curve to the left and went off the right side of the road, then traveled across the paved parking lot in front of the church (at least 200 feet). After just missing a utility pole at the edge of the church parking lot, they traveled another 30 or 40 feet and struck a tree head on. At 7:09 P.M., emergency workers were called to the scene and took Emily and Stormy to the Mulhenburg Community Hospital in Greenville where Emily was pronounced dead. Stormy was treated and released.

It is not certain, but most of the family think that Emily had a seizure of some kind and had lost consciousness as she was rounding the curve (in addition to her diabetes related problems, she also had a history of heart problems). Also, the windshield of the car was not damaged indicating Emily was wearing her seat belt, otherwise the impact with the tree would certainly have thrown her into the windshield. This, in turn, indicates that she might have been unconscious at the time, for she would have had plenty of time to steer the car back onto the street.

A couple of other possibilities (probably much less likely) are brake failure, or taking evasive action to avoid another car or object. In either case, there probably would have been plenty of time and room to avoid the tree. We probably will never know for sure exactly what happened - we only know the sad result.

From Ronny Bodine:

Obituary, Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer of 27 Sept 1994.
CENTRAL CITY - Randall Earl Stewart, 63, of Route 2, Central City, died Monday, Sept. 26, 1994, at Muhlenberg Community Hospital in Greenville. He was born in Muhlenberg County, retired as service manager for Lester Motors in Central City, and was a member of New Testament Christian Church in Central City. A daughter, Kimberly Ann Stewart, died Nov. 18, 1992. Survivors include his wife, Emily Stewart; a daughter, Bonita Adcock of Central City; five grandchildren; a brother, Bill Stewart of Bowling Green; and a sister, Dorothy Adler of Owensboro. Services are at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Tucker Funeral Home, Central City. Burial in Fairmount Cemetery, Central City. Visitation is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Obituary, Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer of 11 Aug 1998.
Stewart, Emily Jane, 68, of Central City died Saturday at Muhlenberg Community Hospital in Greenville. Survivors include her mother, Mary Bodine of Owensboro. Services are at 10 a.m. today at Tucker Funeral Home in Central City. Burial will be in Fairmount Cemetery in Central City.