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MAIN INDEX CLASS OF 1980 CLASS MEMORIES REUNION INFO

 
   
Name: Betsy Jane Gates
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Address
DECEASED 1982,
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Email Address
Personal Website

Class of

1980 Attended from through

Graduated Here?

Yes   

If graduated elsewhere, graduated from:

College Attended:

     
Birthdate: September 23, 1962   
Date of Death: July 23, 1982  
       

Current Occupation:

 

Notes:

Columbia City Post & Mail 7/24/82:

Betsy Jayne Gates
9/23/1962 - 7/23/1982

Betsy J. Gates killed

BIG LAKE - The life of the valedictorian for the 1980 class at Columbia City Joint High School ended tragically Friday afternoon.

Betsy Jayne Gates, 19, Columbia City, was killed at 1:30 p.m. Friday when the State Highway dump truck she was driving went out of control, rolled three times and ejected the victim from the vehicle. Miss Gates was pronounced dead at the scene, an Indiana State Trooper said. The fatal accident happened 6 1/2 miles north of Columbia City on Ind. 109 as the dump truck rounded a curve northbound near the west shore of Crooked Lake. The State Police description of the accident site was Ind. 109 and CR 575 S in Noble County.

The daughter of prominent Columbia City attorney Benton E. Gates Jr., Miss Gates was a gifted scholar and artist-entertainer. In addition to CCJHS valedictorian, she was also crowned Columbia City Junior Miss 1980, eventually gaining second runner-up in Indiana Junior Miss competition.

Friday, she was northbound on Ind. 109, behind the wheel of a tandem dump truck owned by the State Highway Department. A summertime truck driver for the maintenance department of the State Highway since mid-May, she was hauling fill gravel from south of Columbia City to CR 300 S at Ind. 109 in Noble County.

The Warsaw-based State Highway superintendent who oversees activity in seven counties including Whitley, said the victim had traveled Ind. 109 several times Friday, along with other state-owned dump trucks, to the southern Noble County work site.

At approximately 1:30 p.m., Gates, who would have entered her junior year at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, was northbound on Ind. 109, nearing the intersection of CR 575 S in Noble County. According to the State Trooper, the large dump truck's right set of wheels went off the roadway onto the berm. Miss Gates, the driver and lone occupant in the vehicle, steered sharply back toward the roadway, causing the truck to begin a spin. This caused the weight of the gravel in the fully loaded truck bed to shift suddenly, resulting in the vehicle to roll.

The dump truck rolled three times, crushing the driver's side of the cab with the weight of its load as each revolution struck the ground. The driver was thrown from the vehicle during one of the revolutions, the trooper said. Miss Gates was dead at the scene of massive head and chest injuries. Upon completion of the third revolution, the truck righted itself on its tires, 291 feet from where it initially went of the roadway.

The trooper said the truck's seatbelt was not in use by Miss Gates. He stated that, in his opinion, a seatbelt would have prevented the victim's ejection from the truck and could have saved her life. According to a State Highway safety coordinator contacted Friday afternoon, it is the policy of the department that seatbelts be worn while traveling in state-owned vehicles.

The wrecked dump truck was towed to the District 2 State Highway Garage, south of Columbia City on Ind. 9. The driver's side of the vehicle was severely damaged, crushed and caved in; but the driver's seat was still intact.

"Betsy was a good worker - an excellent worker, and a good truck driver. She was experienced with several of our trucks," said the area superintendent. "She was so pleasant; such a talented young lady," he continued. " She was bubbling all the time; always a smile on her face a character that was always willing to work."

"My goodness, it's such a waste."

 
Last Updated: 09-15-2006 Alumni ID: 18422
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